Iceberg Lettuce
I enjoyed Dr. Boli's
rant about iceberg lettuce:
Structurally, iceberg lettuce consists of a thin membrane of greenish plastic stretched over a certain quantity of dishwater. Culinarily, its primary use is to take up space, which it does with ruthless efficiency. So-called “salads” made almost entirely of iceberg lettuce are routinely served in restaurants across North America, in clear violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to say nothing of local rules on consumer fraud, but nothing ever seems to be done about it.
Funny, but culinarily, the primary use of iceberg lettuce is to provide texture, specifically crisp and crunchy texture. Secondarily it provides cool temperature. It is absolutely true that it does not provide flavor per se, but I think that it is a limited culinary sense that demands taste alone from all our ingredients. Much Chinese food, for example, is meant to be experienced for its texture.
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