In the checkout line at Monterey Market:
ME Are those mangosteens?
MAN They’re baby artichokes.
You eat them raw, he said. Peel off the outer leaves and slice them thin.
MAN With some Pecorino sliced thin, pinenuts, a little olive oil . . .
ME Sounds Italian.
MAN Yes, it is.
Everyone laughed.
I don’t get it. Were they really mangosteens?
No, they were baby artichokes. You’re right: it isn’t a conventional joke. But it was funny enough so that even a bystander laughed.