![]() ![]() That’s precisely why, by 2007, the Salinas, California-based Tanimura and Antle-the nation’s largest lettuce supplier-decided it needed to start promoting Iceberg. By 1995, other lettuce varieties made up to around 30 percent of the lettuce American’s ate, and it has been rising steadily since, according to the California Leafy Greens Research Programs (a salad industry group). (Made of a high percentage of water, iceberg has only around 1/20th the amount of vitamins as the darker leafy greens, says David Still, a plant science professor at California State Polytechnic University at Pomona.)Īmerica’s everyday lettuce for half a century was losing market share. For one, consumers became more aware of the nutritional value of greens that are, well, greener. Most of the nation’s lettuce is grown in California, and in 1974, leafy green “non-crisphead” varieties of lettuce still made up only around five percent of the total acres grown in California. Therefore, throughout the middle of the century, unless you grew your own or dined in a high-end establishment, iceberg essentially was lettuce. Introduced for commercial production in the late 1940s, Iceberg (or crisphead) lettuce was the only variety bred to survive cross-country travel (the name Iceberg comes from the piles of ice they would pack the light green lettuce heads in before the advent of the refrigerated train car). The dish is also often credited with single-handedly causing an “ Iceberg comeback.” All of this raises the question: Did this crisp salad green, the “ polyester of lettuce,” really go so far away that it needed to come back? And if so, can one menu item really make a difference?īut first a note-for those who aren’t old enough to remember-about just how ubiquitous Iceberg lettuce once was. These days, the classic wedge salad-wherein the chef smothers a chunk of crisp Iceberg lettuce with creamy blue cheese dressing, and crumbles bacon all over the top-is seen as a cornerstone of American “comfort food.”
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