“Oh, wait — it’s that white broccoli, isn’t it.” — Anonymous 7 year-old.
This may indeed look like it takes hardly any time at all to prepare — get yourself a head of cauliflower and bang it on a plate with a bit of obligatory parsley around the edges — but for the “woman in a hurry” this cook book is written for, it is rather disingenuous.
While the giant raw vegetable can be made in a jiffy (after all, nature has done most of the work for you), procuring the ethnic props to serve it with takes rather more time. First one has to scour the second-hand shops in an Eastern European neighborhood of your choice to find a pristine-condition doll in traditional garb, and then steal a nice large serving platter from a museum of antiquities. Then you have to wait until an elderly relative kicks the bucket so you can inherit the silver serving fork and plate.
This shouldn’t be a problem, however, since raw cauliflower takes a while to decompose. It’s not like it’s going to go cold or anything.
Quick Dishes For A Woman In A Hurry, Culinary Arts Institute, 1982
