Des Higgins wrote:
2) remove as much choke as possible (fiddly) raw and then boil and pull off
the (ehhhhhhh anatomical technicalities here; the leafy bits are not sepals?
They are involucral bracts? hic) leafy bits one by one and dip each into
mayonnaise and chew off the edible bits from one end.

Sacrilege!!! Mayo? Vinaigrette. You tip your plate with a fork
underneath. Pour your vinaigrette in the plate which will collect
nearer to you. Grab your artichocke and one by one remove the leaves
and dip in vinaigrette. When almost at the middle, grab all the leaves
which are left in one go, dip the end bit in vinaigrette - eat. Then
with your knife, remove the hair ring, put the heart in the vinaigrette
- eat. By then you would have also eaten half a french baguette )

After all that it is common to have eaten a packet of crisps while waiting
for the things to cook and to have gone off eating them.
So maybe cardoons are easier after all :-)

20 minutes is too long to wait for such wonderful food? Why don't we
take the time to eat anymore ... (