New vegetables on our table

We all have been enjoying Chinese food in Shanghai and Suzhou. Some vegetables in the dishes were completely new to us. The first one is the Jiaobai, which looks like eggplants or certain roots. I looked it up and find the name of the plant is Zizania aquatica. Here is the website about it:

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ZIAQ

The other one looks like cucumber but taste differently and is very crunchy. It is Celtuce or Asparagus lettuce (picture on right). What we ate was the stem of the plant. Here is more information about the plant:

http://www.rain.org/greennet/docs/exoticveggies/html/celtuce.htm