Artichokes are a real favorite in Rome and it’s well known that they’ve been on the Italian menu for thousands of years. A perennial thistle, artichokes are thought to have originated here in the southern Mediterranean and people have been snacking on them at least since the ancient Romans ruled the world (though there’s some discussion as to whether or not the artichokes to which ancient Roman writers make reference are the popular globe artichokes or one of their vegetal cousins, the cardoon).
As most everyone knows, when you’re eating an artichoke, you’re actually eating a flower bud. And though it’s hard to believe that there are any artichokes in Italy that go uneaten, we discovered a few that were spared the cooking pot at the organic market on Vicolo della Moretta this Sunday. After bursting into their brilliantly beautiful purple flower, they’d been dried, and were ready to be crafted into an arrangement that looks good enough to eat.
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