INTERESTING FACT
Broccoli is a human innovation, a man-made food, and a result of a mutation selected and cultivated by man throughout history.
Broccoli was first introduced in the Mediterranean almost 1,000 years ago. Broccoli is a result of the selective breeding of wild cabbage plants starting around the 6th century BC. In fact, the word “broccoli” comes from the Italian for “the flowering crest of a cabbage”. Since the Roman Empire, broccoli has been regarded a valuable man-made food and source of nutrition among the people of Italy and was eventually introduced to England and America in the 1700s. It took until the 1920s for broccoli to gain in popularity in the United States.
Further evidence of how far broccoli has come are vegetables like cauliflower, kohlrabi, brussel sprouts, kale, even the modern form of cabbage available at grocery stores. Each of these seemingly distinct vegetables were also bred from wild cabbage and did not occur as wild plants before. They can each be considered a man-made food. Broccoli even has three varieties itself!
Is broccoli a genetically modified vegetable?
Broccoli may be a man-made food, but it is not considered a GMO. Genetically modified organisms (also known as GMOs) are food plants that have been produced from organisms in which specific changes were introduced into their DNA through genetic engineering.
Amazing WTF Facts
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