You love it or hate it. That’s broccoli.
The word broccoli was first mentioned by the famous British diarist, John Evelyn. He has many claims to fame, but one of them is the first book in English on salads, Acetaria: A Discourse of Sallets published in 1699, which of course mentions broccoli as originating from Naples.
But it is not possible to talk about broccoli as a word without mentioning its most famous publicist ever. President George H. W. Bush. While in office he publically mentioned the food 70 times, sometimes jokingly but always negatively.
He remembered it from his children, when broccoli was popularised by the Stephano and Andrea D’Arrigo, Italian brothers who achieved the immigrant rags to riches story. After many attempts to make a living, they found broccoli and introduced it to California in the 1920s – just in time to annoy the young George H.W. Bush. The former President remembered very vividly, “I do not like broccoli and I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m President of the United States and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli.” His anti-broccoli stance becomes a standing joke. He talks about breakfast being the only time it is possible to escape the food. “You know how I feel about raising taxes: I’d rather eat broccoli for breakfast” he commented at a probably very unhealthy fundraising barbecue and funnily at a prayer breakfast in 1992, “Breakfast speeches are always my favorite. I figure it’s the one meal where broccoli is never served.”
In the same year, the vegetable got the thumbs up in a John Hopkins University study which discovered that broccoli contains sulforaphane, a chemical that can inhibit growth of cancerous tumours. From that point in time there was no turning back for broccoli growers. On the world market, broccoli is the fifth most popular vegetable, with almost 20 million tonnes being produced every year. But it was the broccoli growers who had the last laugh. Over the last 20 years, broccoli consumption has increased by 900% in the USA.
Perhaps not a surprise with its top health benefits and with only 32 calories per 100 grams, it has become synonymous with health care in the United States. Last year Obama even claimed it was his favourite food.
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