The Bottom Line: Interesting facts about artichokes!
The Full Story:
- The artichoke is not actually a vegetable – it’s technically a flower bud that hasn’t bloomed yet. So give your loved one a bouquet of artichokes! It’ll be so romantic!
- The Romans thought artichokes were an aphrodisiac. But let’s be honest – what didn’t the Romans think were an aphrodisiac?
- Until the 1700s, women in many countries were forbidden from eating artichoke hearts, for fear that the artichokes might cause them to fall in love with other men.
- A 1576 medical manual said the artichoke “has the virtue of…provoking Venus for both men and women; for women making them more desirable, and helping the men who are in these matters rather tardy.” Well that’s…a delicate way of putting it.
- Castroville, California calls itself the “Artichoke Center of the World.” In 1947, they elected an Artichoke Queen named Norma Jean. She later changed her name to Marilyn Monroe. I guess artichokes really do make women more desirable.