# Iceberg Lettuce Sucks **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 9, 2012, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iceberg-lettuce-sucks/624659 "2012-06-09T22:52:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iceberg-lettuce-sucks/624659/21 "2012-06-10T00:01:37Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Iceberg has its place in a salad, much more so than the lawn clippings that most “reaching for class” places fill their salads with these days. I don’t want to see dandelion, cress, endive or escarole anywhere near my salad. Iceberg, romaine, maybe a little Bibb. That’s it. > > You can have my iceberg when you pry it from my cold, dead hands that clutch my fork. > > This is completely leaving out shredded for tacos, taco salads, hamburgers, etc. NO, no, no! WTF is wrong with you? As a long time member of this board, the assumption is that you are a liberal douchebag, and LIBERAL DOUCHEBAGS ARE SUPPOSED TO TRY TRENDY THINGS AND PRETEND TO LIKE THEM! 😃 Anyway, you don’t like watercress, escarole or endive? You can keep the dandelion greens (although I like them)…but seriously? Bitter greens associated with other properly arranged flavors are a remarkable contrast to the ranch dressing sponge that is iceberg lettuce. And as far as tacos go, I’d rather forego iceberg in them altogether in favor of salsa, shredded cheese, more seasoned beef, sour cream, guacamole or just about ANYTHING other than iceberg lettuce. Taco Bell is the worst of the worst in the taco world because of their insistence on loading up their hard shell tacos with their cheapest ingredient: shredded water strips. Yuck! ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iceberg-lettuce-sucks/624659/22 "2012-06-10T00:17:05Z")
Here, here! Iceberg lettuce is one of those white foods that got popular at some point and just kept going because of inertia. Give me romaine any day of the week. > [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Put Captain Crunch in their salads and tell them to shut the fuck up. I need to do this some time, because it would be funny as hell! ETA: someone mentioned guacamole, and I need to say that the store bought stuff doesn’t count as real guacamole. It tastes like salty mush. There’s no avocado flavor at all. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iceberg-lettuce-sucks/624659/23 "2012-06-10T00:17:52Z")
meh, it’s just a delivery system for salad dressing anyway. Sure, I’d rather have some mixed greens or something if available, but if not, gotta put the ranch or thousand island on something. edit: In other words, what Zoid said, lol ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iceberg-lettuce-sucks/624659/24 "2012-06-10T00:18:26Z")
I am fond of mesclun and spinach. Romaine is good as [leaf boats](http://blog.kchandg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/boat15-575x386.jpg) with fine diced celery, cuke, tomato and carrot shreds with a light vinaigrette, and maybe some nicoise olives. You could make little taco salads, or fruit salads, whatever you like. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iceberg-lettuce-sucks/624659/25 "2012-06-10T00:21:22Z")
The ideal restaurant salad just may be the wedge salad at SW Steakhouse (Wynn Las Vegas). Big wedge of baby iceberg, hit with a decadent blue cheese dressing, blue cheese crumbles (Roquefort), heirloom grape tomatoes and a hunk of bacon that had to be 3" x 2" x 1", right from the grill. Heavenly. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iceberg-lettuce-sucks/624659/26 "2012-06-10T00:28:49Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > The ideal restaurant salad just may be the wedge salad at SW Steakhouse (Wynn Las Vegas). Big wedge of baby iceberg, hit with a decadent blue cheese dressing, blue cheese crumbles (Roquefort), heirloom grape tomatoes and a hunk of bacon that had to be 3" x 2" x 1", right from the grill. Heavenly. I am completely on board with this version. Sadly, again, the iceberg is just an edible plate to serve the yummy fixings on. Yeah, yeah, the texture. I think I would rather heap all those things you mention onto a proper bed of spring or mesclun greens and just eat it as a salad rather than the overly dramatic “wedge”. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iceberg-lettuce-sucks/624659/27 "2012-06-10T00:45:52Z")
Some places are charging extra for iceberg lettuce. We went to McDonalds last night and my husband ordered double cheeseburgers with mayo and lettuce, which isn’t the norm. They charged 30 cents extra for mayo, and 30 cents extra for lettuce. For each sandwich. We wondered why the total was so high and that’s when they told us. I’ll bet most people don’t even realize that you have to pay extra to have it your way at McDonalds. We walked out and went to a real burger place down the street. Ok, so I’m married to a man who orders iceberg lettuce on his burger (he’s really great otherwise!), but for them to charge extra for it, not to mention mayo, was just insane. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iceberg-lettuce-sucks/624659/28 "2012-06-10T01:05:18Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Some places are charging extra for iceberg lettuce. We went to McDonalds last night and my husband ordered double cheeseburgers with mayo and lettuce, which isn’t the norm. They charged 30 cents extra for mayo, and 30 cents extra for lettuce. For each sandwich. We wondered why the total was so high and that’s when they told us. I’ll bet most people don’t even realize that you have to pay extra to have it your way at McDonalds. We walked out and went to a real burger place down the street. Ok, so I’m married to a man who orders iceberg lettuce on his burger (he’s really great otherwise!), but for them to charge extra for it, not to mention mayo, was just insane. Are you in Germany? The only time in my life when I was EVER charged anything extra for a McDonald’s burger accoutrement was In Germany when I had to pay like three pfennigs per ketchup packet. I was appalled. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iceberg-lettuce-sucks/624659/29 "2012-06-10T01:13:10Z")
The only time iceberg is okay is when you get the very outside leafs. They’re the darkest, so at least they have some slight taste. But as you get further and further in, it’s just bland nothingness. Plus it takes up some much goddamned room the fridge. Romaine is cool, but I actually prefer spinach on my salads. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iceberg-lettuce-sucks/624659/30 "2012-06-10T01:46:05Z")
The world’s best sandwich is a BLT. And a perfect BLT needs the abomination that is iceberg lettuce. Enough said. Move along folks. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iceberg-lettuce-sucks/624659/31 "2012-06-10T01:46:19Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > And as far as tacos go, I’d rather forego iceberg in them altogether in favor of salsa, shredded cheese, more seasoned beef, sour cream, guacamole or just about ANYTHING other than iceberg lettuce. What’s even better is shredded cabbage, which I’m really liking a lot these days. ---
**Author:** ![Jamicat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iceberg-lettuce-sucks/624659/32 "2012-06-10T01:46:30Z")
I really don’t care what leafy greens are in it… It’s all gonna be covered in an Oily Vinaigrettey’ Mayo Cheesy Concoction of some sorts anyway. If I had a choice…NO WEDGES of Lettuce…take the time, cut all that shit up. I Prefer that my Salad to be Tossed…Each and Every Time. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![oliversarmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/eb8c5e/32.png) [@oliversarmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oliversarmy)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iceberg-lettuce-sucks/624659/33 "2012-06-10T01:54:08Z")
I agree with wolfman in that how can you hate something so innocuous?. It’s kind of like hating water. Regardless, as lettuce goes, it’s easy to grow, relatively hardy and easy to harvest. Also, it’s cheap and tasteless. We end up with a lot of vegetables like this for those reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iceberg-lettuce-sucks/624659/34 "2012-06-10T01:59:08Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Are you in Germany? The only time in my life when I was EVER charged anything extra for a McDonald’s burger accoutrement was In Germany when I had to pay like three pfennigs per ketchup packet. I was appalled. Nope. The McDonalds at State and Chicago Ave. in Chicago. All the McDonalds (at least, all the ones I’ve been to in the Chicago area) have been charging extra for mayo for months now, but since I never get lettuce on my burgers last night was the first I heard that they’re charging extra for lettuce too. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iceberg-lettuce-sucks/624659/35 "2012-06-10T02:22:09Z")
I agree that it’s more about texture than flavor. For this reason I like it on burgers and tacos. I am not a huge salad eater, but I would prefer other types of greens over iceberg. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iceberg-lettuce-sucks/624659/36 "2012-06-10T02:23:46Z")
You gotta wonder where the name “iceberg lettuce” came from in the first place. What is more desolate, empty, devoid of nuance, than an iceberg? The name just shouts “nothingness” to me. Empty name, empty lettuce. ---
**Author:** ![urban1a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47c2d/32.png) [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iceberg-lettuce-sucks/624659/37 "2012-06-10T02:39:26Z")
I have always liked iceberg lettuce better than any other salad greenery stuff. I like the crunch and the fact that you can pick up pieces using the tines of the fork. Any time I go out to eat and an offered a salad with ‘field greens (the weeds from the lot next door)’ or a bunch of leaves which were picked off the trees in the forest behind the restaurant, I just push it aside. As an aside, salad ingredients must be crisp and cold. Wilted, warmish, green things just don’t attract me at all. Bob ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iceberg-lettuce-sucks/624659/38 "2012-06-10T02:54:37Z")
> [@urban1a](#): > > As an aside, salad ingredients must be crisp and cold. Wilted, warmish, green things just don’t attract me at all. > > Bob If you think about it, if the salad is cold, that IS what iceberg lettuce delivers more than any other salad green. Lots of cold water. Heck, I suspect thats where the iceberg name comes from. It supplies the cold and the crunch while the other ingredients supply the flavor. Iceberg + other stuff is going to be different than just plain other stuff or other stuff + whatever hippy lettuce. Now you may not LIKE the first one, but to say the Iceberg does nothing is just plain wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iceberg-lettuce-sucks/624659/39 "2012-06-10T03:10:29Z")
Although I think I have bought three or four heads of the stuff in my entire lifetime of eating salad, when I was growing up it was the only lettuce on offer. I still rather like it, but I don’t think of it as lettuce. More like crunchy water. Nothing wrong with crunchy water. Most 1950’s style American food I can’t force down and couldn’t even when I was a kid. I would actually vomit if I had to try to eat a sweet pickle relish baloney sandwich on wonder bread. I was very thin as a child. But I could eat that iceberg lettuce, and because of this I retain a fondness. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iceberg-lettuce-sucks/624659/40 "2012-06-10T03:12:20Z")
By bologna sandwich needs a nice cold layer of _crunch_. No other lettuce does that as well as iceberg. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iceberg-lettuce-sucks/624659.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iceberg-lettuce-sucks/624659.md?page=3)