Banana Bud

The tropical vegetable pictured is not common in North American food shops, but immigrants from Southeast Asia—the banana’s land of origin—have coaxed it into their neighborhoods. If you should chance upon it, you’ll probably want to know what on earth it could be. And if you’re curious about new foods, you’ll probably try it. If you do so without guidance, you may be as frustrated and disappointed as I was when I did. For if you follow recipes from the few cookbooks that include it, you risk choking—an apt word, for a banana “bud” (technically, the inflorescence) is about as edible as artichoke fuzz.