$food = array('fruits' => array('orange', 'banana', 'apple'),
                            'veggie' => array('carrot', 'collard', 'pea'));

              // recursive count
              echo count($food, COUNT_RECURSIVE); // output 8

$food = array(
  'fruits' => array('orange', 'banana', 'apple'),
  'veggie' => array('carrot', 'collard', 'pea')
);

function leay_count($ar) {
  $r = 0;
  foreach($ar as $item) {
    if(is_array($item)) $r += leay_count($item);
    else $r++;
  }
  return $r;
}

echo leay_count($food);