Romanesco Cauliflower – The Delicious Fractal Vegetable

caseorganic — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 08:33:34 +0000

Vegetables are important. They are also good for you. Here we have an especially important and delicious vegetable called the Romanesco Cauliflower.

But what exactaly is this vegetable? What is it doing in existence? And why does it exist? Some of these questions may be answered by looking into the mathematics behind natural things. One of the ways to model the patterns that cause things to come into being is Cellular Automata.

Cellular Automata

Cellular automata were studied in the early 1950s as a possible model for biological systems (Wolfram 2002, p. 48).

By using a grid and a series of rules, one can easily program something that appears very regular, fractal, or complex. The beauty is that these are very simple rules. A rule might be that if one square is black, the one below it should be white, but if the square above it on the left is black, then the square should be black.

British Mathematician and Physicist Steven Wolfram found that, “essentially regardless of details, the results of iterated computations fall into four general (although not entirely exclusive) classes.

“Class 1 computations produce uniform results from almost any input. Class 2 computations produce output which depends upon the input, but the results either stay the same forever or repeat with a short cycle time. Class 3 computations produce output which appears random (and often passes stringent tests of randomness), while Class 4 computations balance on the edge of order (Class 2) and chaos (Class 3), manifesting localised structures which move and interact with one another in complicated ways. Starting a one-dimensional cellular automaton with random input and various rules demonstrates the behaviour of the four classes of computation” (Walker, Fractal Food).

So Romanesco Cauliflower simply follows a rule of cellular automata (of course in a more interesting and actual way).

Fractal vegetables are also very delicious. Allow me to demonstrate with the following recipe:

Cauliflower and Brussels sprouts salad with mustard-caper butter

Total time: 30 minutes

Servings: 8

Note: From “Local Flavors” by Deborah Madison. Romanesco cauliflower is available at Bristol Farms and Whole Foods markets, select supermarkets and farmers markets. White cauliflower can be substituted.

Ingredients:
2 garlic cloves

Sea salt

6 tablespoons butter, softened2 teaspoons Dijon mustard1/4 cup drained small capers, rinsed

Grated zest of 1 lemon

3 tablespoons chopped marjoram

Black pepper

1 pound Brussels sprouts

1 small head ( 1/2 pound) white cauliflower

1 small head ( 1/2 pound) Romanesco (green) cauliflower

1. To make the mustard-caper butter, pound the garlic with a half-teaspoon salt in a mortar until smooth. Stir the garlic into the butter with the mustard, capers, lemon zest and marjoram. Season to taste with pepper. (The butter can be made a day ahead and refrigerated. Bring to room temperature before serving.)

2. Trim the base off the Brussels sprouts, then slice them in half or, if large, into quarters. Cut the cauliflower into bite-sized pieces.

3. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add salt. Add the Brussels sprouts and cook for 3 minutes. Then add the other vegetables and continue to cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain, shake off any excess water, then toss with the mustard-caper butter. Taste for salt, season with pepper and toss again.

Each serving: 108 calories; 2 grams protein; 6 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams fiber; 9 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 23 mg. cholesterol; 281 mg. sodium.

[Source: LATimes Cooking Thing]

Steven Wolfram’s Lecture on A New Kind of Science

caseorganic — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:09:04 +0000

Even with extremely simple rules, one can get extremely complicated behavior.
-Stephen Wolfram

Wouldn’t it be exciting, Stephen Wolfram wonders, to have a little computer program that could function as a precise, ultimate model of our universe? If you ran the program long enough, it would reproduce every single thing that happens. It’s not out of the question, according to Wolfram’s lecture which somehow encapsulates his 1,200-page opus, A New Kind of Science, in a single hour.

Thanks to the new release of MIT World (and ISITE Design, the Portland agency who created it), we can watch Steven Wolfram’s entire 1.5 hour lecture on the book. While I read the book when it first came out a few years ago, it is always great to be able to watch Steve speak about his ideas. As I read the book for the second time, his voice will help guide me through as I gain new intellectual perspectives.

Stephen Wolfram is a MacArthur Prize winner, and world-renowned for his work in scientific computing. He was educated at Eton and Oxford, and received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Caltech at the age of 20. His breakthrough work involved studying the behavior of simple computer programs called “cellular automata”. After a career at Caltech, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and at the University of Illinois, he launched Wolfram Research, Inc., publisher of Mathematica, the world’s most widely used symbolic mathematics software.

Wolfram’s vast and penetrating research uses simple computations to generate complex computer models that resemble designs found in nature. He embraces the really big subjects, and the really small ones—from patterns on mollusk shells and the shapes of leaves and snowflakes, to free will, evolution, and extra-terrestrial life.

This new kind of thinking might provide alternatives to evolution in explaining how different forms of life emerged. Wolfram believes his work is already transforming the study of science, as well as making possible a host of new technologies.

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Romanesco Cauliflower – The Delicious Fractal Vegetable

Cellular Automata

Cauliflower and Brussels sprouts salad with mustard-caper butter

Steven Wolfram’s Lecture on A New Kind of Science