Chapter 9 - Recipe for Honeymoon Salad (Lettuce Alone)

You Must Always Have Good Taste 


I was standing in the check out line of the grocery store recently and picked up a magazine to read as I waited. The cover had caught my eye. "100 Easy Ways to Un-clutter Your Life.

"You do too much!"  the article began.  "Clear your calendar.  Take Wednesdays off. Schedule a play day.  Delegate - Delegate - delegate.  Make use of convenience foods and  (the silliest - most ridiculous tip) use plastic flowers in arrangements. They don't make a mess like fresh flowers do."  

Yikes!   I put the stupid (and expensive) magazine back.   Doing too much is what I do best!!

Produce is the
 taste of the earth

On the subject of plastic, I had a plastic salad for dinner last night. Oh, it was fresh and green looking but it had no taste.  NO TASTE.

I had made a feisty balsamic vinaigrette that was gently kissed with garlic and rosemary but, even so, the lettuce had no taste. It looked gorgeous on display at the grocery store but in the bowl it was bland and boring. My home made dressing poured over a Styrofoam take out box would have tasted better.

Taste comes from the terrior - from the ground.  I'm not talking about eating dirt but rather tasting the elements of the earth that collect in the ground and give food its flavor.

Whenever we talk about wine, we always talk about it's terroir - the taste of the earth in which the grapes were grown.  But terroir is vital to everything that grows - not just grapes.  

My plastic lettuce salad was grown in nutrient void dirt. I could taste it because it had no taste. Lettuce grown in rich fertile ground is sweet and luscious with background under tastes of citrus, pepper and spice. When produce has its growth accelerated by mega amounts of synthetic fertilizers, it is big and beautiful but taste-less.


Honey Moon Salad
"Lettuce Alone"

 Salad dressings are created to accent the delicate tastes of lettuce but we've become so accepting of tasteless lettuce that we drown our salads in dressing just to get hit of flavor. 



Like plastic flowers, plastic lettuce is void of good taste.