Well, not quite. But this article we stumbled across recently makes (pickled) food for thought. It seems the gherkin may be the inspiration for a whole new style of architecture, with me-too versions springing up in Barcelona, Doha and Hong Kong. As the Independent quips:

It now appears that, in giving birth to the Gherkin, London has fathered, or rather foster-fathered, a whole brood of pickled cucumbers that is set to colonise the world.

The Torre Agbar in Barcelona is already standing proud, though much stunted in comparison to its British cousin (no, we can't think of a gag there either). The Doha tower is by the same architect, Jean Nouvel, but is still only at the concept stage. The design shows a spiky topped tower as tall as Canary Wharf that answers to the name 'Bismark'. Last, and most certainly not the least, is the proposed Bionic Tower by Javier Pioz for Hong Kong. If built, this monster would stretch to around two-thirds of a mile high and 300 floors. A good time to buy shares in Otis, we suspect.

Anyone think of other gherkin-like towers, real or proposed, we can add to the pickle?

Barcelona image from A T I's Flickr photostream.
Doha image from SkyscraperCity forums.
Bionic Tower from Emporis. Copyright Cervera and Pioz.