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This Chef-Favorite Vegetable Didn't Exist Until 1993 By Haley McNamara Nov. 23, 2025 11:00 am EST

The '90s were an infamous time for some pretty epic innovations — the first website, "Friends," the so-called diet miracle Olestra , and broccolini! Surely all of us who survived that decade remember this veggie's debut, right? Broccolini was born in 1993 as the veggie-child of broccoli and Chinese kale, also known as gai lan. And no, this creation was not brought to us by the Italians, as its "ini" ending may suggest. This tender vegetable comes from the Japanese seed company, Sakata Inc.

In 1998, Sakata patented the veggie and trademarked the name. It also goes by all sorts of less-catchy names like asparbroc or aspiration (because of its similarities to asp

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