The Artichoke Capital

Photo by Liz Birnbaum, The Curated Feast for Tufts University

What vegetable would you nominate for the state of California — would you keep the spiky artichoke?

1948: Marilyn Monroe was crowned as the Artichoke Queen in Castroville, California. Funny enough, the young and rising starlet was actually the judges’ second choice!

1,900 years earlier, Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder (yep, same as the beer) had apparently called artichokes “one of earth’s monstrosities.” Yikes! Harsh.

Today, the artichoke gets away from all the hate and holds the regal title of official state vegetable of California (the state fruit is an avocado and the state grain is rice). Nearly 80% of all US artichokes are grown right here on California’s Central Coast. So Castroville is still proudly the artichoke capital of the world, and Norma Jean (stage name: Marilyn Monroe) will always be among its favorite queens.

Shot for @tuftsuniversity Magazine.