I recently finished reading a book titled "Anatomy of a Rose," written by Sharman Apt Russell. It was about the "inner life" of flowers. Plants, I learned, are as old as dinosaurs. I also learned that flowers have played important cultural roles throughout human history.
But one part of our lives that flowers rarely reach is our dinner plates.
Of course, there are exceptions. A couple of summers ago, I sampled crab-stuffed squash blossoms at the upscale restaurant Terra Mae. Still, flowers are mostly absent on our menus. I did some digging and could not find a definitive reason why this is.
But after reading "Anatomy of a Rose" and learning how flowers co-evolved with certain pollinators like bees and butterflies, I have a theory. Humans simply did not evolve to develop a taste for flowers. After all, flower petals are not hearty, nor were they "ripe" long enough to have become a dependable food source for our foraging ancestors.
Besides, humans would make lousy pollinators. Best to leave those flower feasts to the bees and butterflies - feasts that, this time of year, are in full bloom.
Happy almost spring!