food-identification
We found this at a local food bank, and couldn't resist but have no idea what it is. We live in the bay area of California, so there are any number of communities it could have come from. Any help is appreciated 🙂
In response to comments, I'll give sensory description of the vegetable. There is little smell. The stalks are hollow inside, and crunchy with none of the stringiness of celery. The flavor is light and bitter and reminds me a lot of dandelions.
My best guess would be wampee fruit - has roughly the same size, shape, and stem colour, and obviously comes from the same region, although I'm not sure about the interior:
It's hard to tell from the low contrast in the photo but it could also be loquat, AKA "Japanese Plum".
Only problem with the second choice is that loquat usually has full-on brown branches as opposed to green stems - so it's probably the wampee.
The original source of this image is from a photographer named KF, Gmunden, taken in Austria on July 2005.
Here is the original source on the internet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pork_.JPG
With a reverse Google Image search and more digging, this doesn't appear to be a named dish. Rather, the amalgamation of these ingredients is typical, as suggested by the original wiki upload. If the dish had a name, it would have been tagged when the file was uploaded to Wikipedia.
Best Answer
It is an asparagus chicory, or more formally known as Puntarelle. They are grown in Rome and in Italy. They are similar to endives and have that bitter taste. A famous dish that uses it is Puntarelle alla Romana, a salad with anchovies and the asparagus chicory. It is quite hard to find outside of Italy, surprised you found it in California. Enjoy it!