On Lettuce

Before we left for Jordan, they told us to avoid the salads. No lettuce. None.
Before I went to Russia, they told us to steer clear of salds. No lettuce. None!

Crystal and I would often talk about salad when we were in Jordan. In fact, Crystal wrote on her blog, "Salad is the most wonderful thing ever. I tried to get a cafe rio grilled chicken salad on the way home from the airport but they were already closed. Yesterday I got one for lunch and it was the most delicious thing I have ever eaten. Forget about desserts...I just missed lettuce." And it is true. It's hard to have salad taken away from you when that is really one of the most common vegetables eaten in the United States.

Now, I like more vegetables than salad. I get harrassed by my in-laws for my like of broccoli. But salad, I really do have to admit that I enjoy. A lot.

In the Middle East it can make you sick. In Russia it can make you sick. Why? Because the water they use to grow the lettuce is sometimes a little less-than clean. Things get inside and can't get out. Unlike other vegetables, lettuce is pretty hard to bleach. It is so pourous that it just sucks in whatever moisture is around that: bleach, water, e. coli, etc. Believe me, you don't want to eat over-bleached vegetables, and it's easy to over-bleach lettuce.

Funny how the idea of that happening is so "third world" and then it happens here! I kind of find it funny just because America seems to hold so much pride in being a "developed" nation. I guess these things can happen anywhere.

So, before you think of coming to America, let me warn you: don't eat the lettuce. No lettuce. None!

That said, I think I will continue to eat salad. I can't help it. I'm with Crystal. I went for four months not having a salad.. By golly, I'm going to eat it here!