where did strawberries originate
The strawberry the Romans feasted upon would bear little resemblance to what you would acknowledge as a strawberry from the grocery store today. That being said, Vavilov (the 'Father' of the study of botanical origins) placed the strawberry's centre of origin as South America, specifically Chile.
Strawberries are among the first fruit to ripen in the Northeast. The flower buds formed last fall and were tucked away under a layer of straw for the winter. Then an early-spring heat wave pushed the plants along.