"Iceberg lettuce is perhaps the most aptly named plant in the world and should be avoided as though you were the Titanic with a second chance."

Alan Koehler, Author: Madison Avenue Cook Book

I grew up in Montana at a time when a dinner salad meant chopped iceberg lettuce on a plate – pass the bottled dressing.  No wonder my brother and I preferred eating Mom’s over-cooked vegetables.  At my girlfriend Colleen’s house it was a wedge of iceberg on a plate, but you get the picture -- not many choices in the lettuce department.

Crisphead, or iceberg lettuce became popular in the U.S. in the 1920’s because it was the variety that could survive a cross-country trip in a rail car.  It got its moniker because it was packed in crushed ice to keep it fresh.

Iceberg lettuce offers added crunch to a salad, but little flavor and much less nutrition than its leafy cousins.  For instance, romaine has four times more folate, seven and a half times more vitamin C and 10 times more beta carotene than iceberg lettuce *

For flavor and nutrition, I go for the romaine, leaf lettuce or those wonderful baby greens.  But you know what?  When I hunger for nostalgia, a wedge of iceberg with a dollop of Grandma Helen’s Thousand Island Dressing sure hits the spot!

*Source:  USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory