Though many herbivores prefer its taste to other spinach varieties, truth be told that New Zealand Spinach is not really a proper spinach at all. It looks and tastes similar to its namesake, but technically its botanical classification is a little different. Nonetheless, this tasty and fascinating heirloom veggie has been grown since the 1770's after being initially introduced by famed British botanist Sir Joseph Banks, who collected it on his journey to the South Seas with Captain James Cook. New Zealand Spinach is particularly noted for its extremely high vitamin content.