Fiddleheads

Fiddleheads (Matteuccia struthioreris) are a delicious vegetable that I have learned to appreciate in Toronto. Unfortunately, as with so many vegetables that are supposedly good for you, there is some real danger involved. The Canadian food agency recommends washing them several times and then boiling them for at least 15 minutes before consuming them. That is a pity, since it goes against the traditional way of cooking vegetables here. Indeed, in Europe vegetables are usually boiled until mushy and falling apart, whereas in Canada, vegetables are boiled for a very short time to keep them crunchy (which in turn leads Europeans to claim that Canadians only eat frozen vegetables, something only a braindead would dare to claim).