# WTF is up with Iceberg Lettuce **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 21, 2009, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-iceberg-lettuce/503785 "2009-07-21T21:38:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-iceberg-lettuce/503785/1 "2009-07-21T21:38:53Z")
Why do so many people use this ingredient? It is practically tasteless and has almost zero nutritional value. WTF is up? I’ve also heard and I would like to know if someone can verify this, that Iceberg lettuce actually leaches minerals out of the other ingredients. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-iceberg-lettuce/503785/2 "2009-07-21T21:43:26Z")
It adds “texture” to my salad… ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-iceberg-lettuce/503785/3 "2009-07-21T21:47:06Z")
It’s a neutral foil for a tasty salad dressing and it is very low in calories. Those are its good qualities, not to say it’s the best food ever. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-iceberg-lettuce/503785/4 "2009-07-21T21:50:20Z")
It has a pleasant texture, being consistently crispy, but not going as far as cabbage does. It is best used where there is plenty of other flavors, such as on hamburgers. My personal preference in salad is a variety of lettuces including iceberg. I also add raw spinach and shredded red cabbage. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-iceberg-lettuce/503785/5 "2009-07-21T21:54:30Z")
It ships well, so back in the day, it was probably the easiest (or only) lettuce to find with any regularity unless the local farmers grew lettuce and it happened to be in season. As such, it became the default “lettuce” for Americans. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-iceberg-lettuce/503785/6 "2009-07-21T21:54:40Z")
[Recent article](http://www.saveur.com/article/Our-Favorite-Foods/The-Ice-Queen) from _Saveur_. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-iceberg-lettuce/503785/7 "2009-07-21T22:16:09Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > I’ve also heard and I would like to know if someone can verify this, that Iceberg lettuce actually leaches minerals out of the other ingredients. I can’t believe this. I can’t understand how it would be be physically possible. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-iceberg-lettuce/503785/8 "2009-07-21T22:26:40Z")
It goes great with bleu cheese! ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-iceberg-lettuce/503785/9 "2009-07-21T22:29:07Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I can’t believe this. I can’t understand how it would be be physically possible. I’m also not sure, if it is true, that it’s something to worry about. I mean, if the lettuce pulls stuff out of other ingredients, then that stuff’s…now in the lettuce. Which you’re going to eat anyway. Right? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-iceberg-lettuce/503785/10 "2009-07-21T22:31:13Z")
I was wondering about that as well. How can it both have no nutritional value, _and_ leech the nutrients out of other ingredients? If the nutrients don’t end up in the iceberg, where the heck do they go? ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-iceberg-lettuce/503785/11 "2009-07-21T22:37:40Z")
For the sake of science, somebody needs to mix iceberg lettuce and a bunch of celery and let 'em fight it out to see what happens. Since celery Has Negative Calories ™ and iceberg lettuce apparently leeches nutrition from other foods, who could possibly predict the inevitable horrendous outcome? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-iceberg-lettuce/503785/12 "2009-07-21T22:39:41Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I was wondering about that as well. How can it both have no nutritional value, _and_ leech the nutrients out of other ingredients? If the nutrients don’t end up in the iceberg, where the heck do they go? I don’t know how, but I pictured the poor nutrients going down with the Titanic. ---
**Author:** ![Jorge\_Burrito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Jorge\_Burrito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jorge_Burrito)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-iceberg-lettuce/503785/13 "2009-07-21T22:40:40Z")
> [@Hunter\_Hawk](#): > > For the sake of science, somebody needs to mix iceberg lettuce and a bunch of celery and let 'em fight it out to see what happens. Since celery Has Negative Calories ™ and iceberg lettuce apparently leeches nutrition from other foods, who could possibly predict the inevitable horrendous outcome? I predict a black hole that destroys all of Earth. I have known to be wrong about these kind of things, however. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-iceberg-lettuce/503785/14 "2009-07-21T22:49:04Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Why do so many people use this ingredient? It is practically tasteless and has almost zero nutritional value. WTF is up? Zero nutritional value? I know it’s not as good as raw spinach or cabbage, but: “This food is low in Sodium, and very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Thiamin, Vitamin B6, Iron and Potassium, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Folate and Manganese” . . . from [nutritiondata.com](http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2476/2) Also, I find it to taste sweet, so it’s a good foil to stronger, bitterer greens. ---
**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:** [July 21, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-iceberg-lettuce/503785/15 "2009-07-21T22:51:02Z")
Given a choice between iceberg lettuce and the lawn clippings and swamp pickings a lot of restaurants are using for salads these days, I’ll take iceberg every time. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-iceberg-lettuce/503785/16 "2009-07-21T23:07:06Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Given a choice between iceberg lettuce and the lawn clippings and swamp pickings a lot of restaurants are using for salads these days, I’ll take iceberg every time. _Swamp pickings?_ Haaa! Yeah, I have seen a few of those in my salads. ---
**Author:** ![SmashTheState](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@SmashTheState](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmashTheState)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-iceberg-lettuce/503785/17 "2009-07-21T23:12:59Z")
It’s not really their fault. Supermarkets deliberately stock only the blandest-tasting fruits and vegetables in order to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Most folks have never been exposed to anything with an actual flavour, so they think flavours are “weird.” Just check out the nigh-on-hysterical reactions in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=524066) to the smell (or, as they refer to it, the “stench”) of curry. I recall the anticipation I felt when the first Taco Bell arrived here in Ottawa. I was excited because I had heard from so many people how addictive and delicious the food was. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that it looked just like food, it smelled just like food, but it tasted like… well, nothing. The tortillas had the flavour of wet cardboard. The “beef” was brown and smelled like meat, but it tasted like packing foam. The alleged cheese was a bright fluorescent orange, the colour of construction cones, and had the flavour and texture of rubber carpet underpadding. I tried to add some flavour by squeezing on some of their so-called “hot sauce” and got something that tasted like watery ketchup. And yet, all around me were people eating with gusto and, as near as I could tell, greatly enjoying their tasteless meals. ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-iceberg-lettuce/503785/18 "2009-07-21T23:16:11Z")
I like to put it under the good lettuce as a base, sometimes it’s hard to stick a fork through the limp but tasty greens. And ditto to texture. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-iceberg-lettuce/503785/19 "2009-07-21T23:18:07Z")
> [@SmashTheState](#): > > Supermarkets deliberately stock only the blandest-tasting fruits and vegetables in order to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Cite? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-iceberg-lettuce/503785/20 "2009-07-21T23:18:43Z")
It makes great BLTs, especially with home grown tomatoes, a bit of salt and pepper, and of course Duke’s mayonnaise. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-iceberg-lettuce/503785.md?page=2)