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I thought I’d post another installment of fun facts generated by searching a random phrase. Last week, if you recall, our random phrase was “One out of every 200 people” – which yielded all this wonderfulness. Today’s random phrase is “piece of lettuce” – and here’s what we learn:
According to this site: “A flight attendant [at Delta Airlines] noticed the piece of lettuce that was used to decorate their food was often wilted and unappetizing. The Airline removed the lettuce leaves and saved over $1 million annually.”
Or how about this nugget of news from North Shore News in British Columbia: “A Vancouver woman who slipped and fell on a piece of lettuce while shopping in a grocery store was recently assessed damages for her pain.”
And speaking of assessing damages, there’s also this tidbit, according to someone at the Atlantic Baptist University: “After Jesus’ announcement of his betrayal Judas left the Upper Room (John 13:30). Since Jesus announced his betrayal during the course of appetizers, what they must have dipped together was lettuce (into the dressing), since no bread would have been eaten at this point in the meal. The Gospel of John’s version of the foretelling of the betrayal records that Jesus dipped a ywmi,on [sic] (John 13:27), which, if our reconstruction is correct, ought to be translated as a piece of lettuce or other type of bitter herb, not a piece of bread, as it is often translated.”
What I want to know is, why on earth did you decide to Google “piece of lettuce” in the first place? Was there some kind of offending morsel in your salad at lunch?
posted by Mary on 7-17-2006 at 7:38 pm
Nah, just trying to keep it random. Though I did have a bug in my romaine two nights ago! Eek.
posted by David on 7-17-2006 at 8:09 pm
Not that I am an expert on this but in response to this ‘piece of lettuce’ thing:
You write:
“since no bread would have been eaten at this point in the meal”
If the last supper was really a passover sedar, bread couldn’t have been eaten at ANY point in the meal since it’s forbidden. Matzah, leavened in a prescribed manner, is allowed to be eaten.
Romaine lettuce, which we usually don’t particularly think of as bitter, is used on the Passover Plate, as “maror,” which symbolizes the bitterness of slavery in Egypt for Jewish people.
As a side note, it’s pretty funny to hear the word ‘appetizers’ referring to anything during a Sedar meal which is (actually means) orderly and prescribed and NOT a casual meal.
Calling lettuce an ‘appetizer’ is like referring to communion wafers as an ‘appetizer” to be had before one leaves church and goes home and eats.
:)
posted by Zach on 7-18-2006 at 6:29 am
Personally, I’ve always thought of the communion wafers as a light amuse-bouche. Maybe this has something to do with my not going to church anymore.
posted by Mary on 7-18-2006 at 10:38 am