Lettuce tell you a few secrets, some interesting facts about the salad leaf. Like Columbus found America and brought lettuce along. Here are some more:
• Lettuce was first eaten by the ancient kings of Persia 2,500 years ago.
• If you are finding it difficult to sleep, you may try eating lettuce. Yes, as per history, both the ancient Greeks and Romans chewed lettuce leaves to get a good night’s sleep, believing in its sleep-inducing properties.
• Did you know the name of the first artist who depicted lettuce in a painting? It was Leonardo da Vinci. In his painting Leda, dated 1504, he portrayed a child standing next to the goddess of fertility with a bouquet of lettuce leaves.
There is also an interesting story to tell about the Iceberg lettuce, the variety used in McDonald’s burgers and salads. In the 1920s in America, ice was piled up on cartons carrying lettuce to keep it chilled, crisp and fresh. As train cars arrived from Salinas Valley in the US packed with ice in places as far as Maine, the kids in the new towns would shout “The icebergs are coming! The icebergs are coming!”
The name stuck.
