alien or vegetable?

My Mom brought this thing home from the market today and me, being a nerd, noticed that it was a fractal while Jakob, being the geek, thought that it was an alien from another planet.  It turns out that it is only what the Italians call Romano broccoli (they call what we think of as normal broccoli Calabrese broccoli) and it falls under the category of cultivars (cultivated variations) along with cabbage, brussel spouts, and cauliflower.  It is not ancient nor is it futuristic, in fact it was probably a result of selective breeding by Italian farmers in the 16th century.

An interesting fact that is applied to most fractals is that the number of pods on its head will always be one of the Fibonacci numbers.  Although it may look alien, it is supposed to taste very similar to cauliflower but with a slightly nuttier, earthier flavor (we haven’t dared to try it yet). We’ll let you know how it turns out.