I don't often get my hands on fresh fractal food, so when a gorgeous Romanesco makes its way to my fridge, the sequence of events is always shoot, cook, eat. According to the most recent research, the Romanesco arises from the interaction of genetics and mathematics, so to speak. A number of plant species are known to develop as spirals (dahlias, for example). Even a conventional cauliflower has spirals of florets. If certain gene mutations occur during flower formation, however, the Romanesco cauliflower is the result. Yum.
Tasting notes: Canon digital camera. See: " Cauliflower fractal forms arise from perturbations of floral gene network". Science. 373 (6551): 192–197, 2021.
