Date: Wed, 06 Nov 2013 11:52:53 -0500
From: “N.A. Booko”
Subject: A Picking of the Green . . .
In the 1940s-50s, I grew up in a North Carolina home where we were well fed, but I cannot ever remember having a green salad. Yes, we often had cole slaw, wilted lettuce (with bacon pcs and the grease)- but Ice berg lettuce? It was fancy food for fancy folk. It was only when I was 18 and went to the big city to seek fame and fortune (a feat yet not accomplished)- that I encountered Ice Berg lettuce. I ate it then, but I didn’t like it. Still don’t. Back in those days, Romaine was for the adventurous.
In the 1960-70s- I lived on a farm and raised many varieties of lettuce and learned to like a good mixture. The spice of salad life. Good Seasons Salad Mix was the rage. Make your own! Just open the packet, add water and vinegar! What an innovation. But that fad died out in the 1980s and we were left with 687 other silly bottled mixtures, mostly chemicals, to choose from. Vinegar and oil, by far, for me, is the best dressing.
In the 1970s when I moved to Pittsboro, the two grocery stores only stocked Ice Berg lettuce. Once I rebelled and asked for Romaine and the following week, there were two not so fresh heads of Romaine in the bin. I bought one, the other remained for almost two weeks, until it was shriveled beyond recognition. It disappeared and was never stocked again until several years later.
If you haven’t guessed by now, I dislike Ice Berg lettuce. If I remember correctly, it was once reported (maybe actually dozens of times) that Ice Berg has very little if any nutrition value. Yet, it is a big seller in most stores. Altho I don’t eat out a lot, I am amazed that most local restaurants still depend on it as a staple. Recently a friend attended a wedding reception and discovered the food was catered by a well known Pittsboro eatery. My friend reported that the salad contained a large percentage of hard, tasteless ‘ribs’ from ice berg lettuce. So bad, that the bride went around apologizing.
Fortunately, now most of the local grocery stores offer a wide variety of lettuce and greens- My favorite is Spinach . I once read that the greener and darker the leaf, the better it is for you.
My friend Ed and gardener par excellent – grows kale in a window box at his workplace, so that he has fresh greens for his sandwich.
N.A. Booko
(Futuristic author of “From Grits to Gourmet: A Southern Boy Cooks!”) – Well, maybe . . but it won’t be any “50 Shades of Gravy”