Man, I really love artichokes. I remember eating an artichoke for the first time as a kid–it was something exotic, part of my parents’ Weird California Food that no one else around ate, and it was such a process. Maybe that’s why I like them so much, or maybe it’s just because they’re freakin’ awesome. They’re pretty good with some orange dijon vinaigrette.
I also really like the process of dismantling the artichoke, creating a pile of leaves as I eat–it’s the same sort of perverse joy I get from creating a pile of pistachio shells. So satisfying!
In his Dream of the Botanical Monograph, Freud compares the process of eating an artichoke, destroying it leaf by leaf, to his inclination for studying books–in a way, dismembering them, leaf by leaf–and his greatest childhood pleasure.
Artichokes. Eat one today.
Raveling Out 