Nov 17, 2012

Magically Delicious

“This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Luke 22:19
I discovered a new vegetable today. It's a perfect fucking fractal.
Romanesco broccoli - Brassica oleracea - resembles a cauliflower, but the inflorescence (the bud) has an approximate self-similar character, with the branched meristems making a logarithmic spiral. In this sense the broccoli's shape approximates a natural fractal; each bud is composed of a series of smaller buds, all arranged in yet another logarithmic spiral. This self-similar pattern continues at several smaller levels.
Var said, "Brassica are like the Jesus veggie". Wait... what? What if the Eucharist is a vegetable?
Cruciferous vegetables are vegetables of the family Brassicaceae (also called Cruciferae). These vegetables are widely cultivated, with many genera, species, and cultivars being raised for food production such as cauliflower, cabbage, cress, bok choy, broccoli and similar green leaf vegetables. The family takes its alternate name (Cruciferae, New Latin for "cross-bearing") from the shape of their flowers, whose four petals resemble a cross.
I know that many say the Eucharist is a mushroom, and right said Fred, but I'm amazed by the geometry this little green vegetable is showing off. The most common member of the Brassica or Cruciferae family is broccoli, and if this humble vegetable family is indeed the Eucharist, it makes perfect sense that George H. W. Bush famously declared that he hated broccoli - Satan can't stand it.

This quite naturally leads to the James Bond film franchise, started by Albert "Cubby" Broccoli. But since I haven't seen the latest offering, I'll need to save all that for next week.

'Til then, eat your greens!

NOTE: This post is definitely inspired by "the bud" of a green recently made legal in my state. 

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