Broccoli, the Man – and Vegetable – Behind the Bond Franchise

This whole 1989 profile of Albert “Cubby” Broccoli by John Culhane for the LA Times is full of enjoyable nuggets, but this fact blew my mind:

Giovanni Broccoli and his brother emigrated to Long Island from Calabria at the turn of the century. According to research done in Florence by Broccoli’s wife of 30 years, Dana, the brothers were descended from the Broccolis of Carrera, who first crossed two Italian vegetables, cauliflower and rabe, to produce the dark green, thick-stalked vegetable that took their name and eventually supported them in the United States.

Giovanni’s brother started a broccoli farm on Long Island, and soon all of Giovanni’s family worked for him. “Myself, my brother, my mother, my father — all working on our hands and knees,” said Broccoli, who picked up the nickname Cubby (after a round-faced comic strip character) at about that time. “Later on, we had our own farm.”

Two weeks ago on The Talk Show, I even joked with Paul Kafasis about the fact that in over 30,000 posts in Daring Fireball’s history, the only ones that contain the string “broccoli” are ones about the Bond movies, not the vegetable. Until now I guess.

(Via Dave Rutledge.)

★ Saturday, 8 March 2025