Described as a “weedy Cinderella” by some and a “queen of a salad plants” by others, it is nevertheless the most common salad vegetable and somehow part of my daily consumption. Let us learn more about this leafy green:

• A primitive, but edible, ancestor of the lettuce plant has been enjoyed as far back as ancient Egypt. Lettuce has only continued to gain popularity even since. In fact, consumption is at an all-time high, which is good news for these guys (I think).

• From the History of Food, “Modern types of lettuce include iceberg and Batavia (more popular in Europe). Romaine lettuce has long leaves in a loaf-shaped head. Butterhead lettuce is quite small with oily, soft textured leaves. Red and green lead lettuces form no head and have leaves with a variety of shapes.”

• Iceberg lettuce was first introduced in 1894 by W. Atlee Burpee Seed Co. Because of its firm ball shape it shipped well, and got its nickname from the way it was shipped on crushed ice (of course). Apparently, this variety can also make for a tasty and comforting snack, which may account for the 22 lbs of iceberg lettuce Americans eat on average per year.

• Strangely, you can also consume what’s known as Sea Lettuce – a type of algae that looks like romaine and has a spicy taste. Just cut it from a rock or catch it as it floats by … although you should probably stay clear of polluted waters.

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Although we just missed National Ice Cream Month, that’s no reason to skip out on this icy treat now, especially in such hot weather. Here are some facts and figures regarding one of the best bribing tools ever created, Ice Cream.

• Ice Cream, in some form, has been enjoyed as far back as second century B.C., and became an American favorite in the 1700s. In fact, here is a picture of Thomas Jefferson’s own recipe. If anyone can decipher the writing, please share it below. (For more Ice Cream history, check out Miss Cellania’s vintage overview).

• What exactly is Ice Cream? And how does it differ from frozen yogurt, gelato and custard? By law, ice cream must contain 10% milkfat, the same as custard, which must also contain a certain percentage of egg yolk solids. Gelato contains more milk than cream and plenty of eggs and flavoring. Sherberts and sorbets contain little to no dairy products but far more sugar. Frozen yogurt, of course, contains cultured milk.

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We’re taking a break from our usual format this week to focus on a more general dining experience, and one we felt apropos to the season - the picnic. James Beard says it best, “Wherever it is done, picnicking can be one of the supreme pleasures of outdoor life. At its most elegant, it calls for the accompaniment of the best linens and crystal and china; at its simplest it needs only a bottle of wine and items purchased from the local delicatessen as one passes through town.”

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The Onion. No, not that Onion. Rather, the delectable vegetable that adds a great deal of flavor to your meal and aroma to your kitchen. At the workhouse, Oliver Twist was lucky to get “Three meals of thin gruel a day, with an onion twice a week, and half a roll on Saturdays.” I can’t imagine eating an onion plain, but perhaps some of you have. For now, shake or stir your Gibson cocktail (garnished with an onion, of course), and learn more about this fantastic foodstuff.

• According to the Cambridge World History of Food, “The onion may have originated in Persia (Iran) and Beluchistan (eastern Iran and southwestern Pakistan), but it is also possible that onions were indigenous from Palestine to India […] the consumption of onions is depicted in the decoration of Egyptian tombs dating from the Early Dynasty Period, c. 2925–c. 2575 B.C. Onions were used as religious offerings, put on altars and, as is known from mummified remains,were employed in preparing the dead for burial (placed about the thorax and eyes, flattened against the ears, and placed along the legs and feet and near the pelves). The Greek historian Herodotus reported that onions, along with radishes and garlic, were a part of the staple diet of the laborers who built the Great Pyramid at Giza (2700–2200 B.C.)”
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• Have you had a little donkey today? Aside from the certainty of its literal translation, the origins of the burrito are highly disputed (although we can be sure they never contained actual donkey meat … but after that, anything goes). Peter Fox of the Washington Post notes, in his quest to find the true origins of the burrito, “As we followed the historical trail, and got closer and closer to the source, the burritos became smaller and smaller, and our favorite ingredients disappeared one by one. When we finally found what we thought was the original burrito, it was very different from the burritos we knew and loved. The burrito’s evolution seemed like a cross-generational version of the children’s game of telephone, in which a message is passed through so many people that the message at the end is completely different from the original.”
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To start, a rhyme I remember from childhood: “A peanut sat on the railroad track, his heart was all a-flutter. The 5:15 came roaring by … Choo choo! Peanut butter.”

Unless you suffer from Arachibutyrophobia (the fear of getting peanut butter stuck to roof of your mouth), read on to learn more about the yummy, creamy (sometimes crunchy) goodness that is peanut butter, a relatively high-fat food that also contains significant amounts of protein and carbohydrates.

• Fancy whipping up your own jar of the stuff? It takes 772 peanuts to make a 16.3 oz jar. Nearly half of the United States’ peanut crop is devoted to peanut butter production, and another 20% is used specifically for manufacturing candy.

• Ah, the ubiquitous childhood favorite (unless you suffer from a peanut allergy, of course), the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Did you know 96% of people put the peanut butter on first?
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Cherries are everywhere in our cultural landscape—from Cherry Coke to Chekhov’s famous “The Cherry Orchard” to Mary Poppins, where the Banks family lived on Cherry Tree Lane. And who can forget about old George Washington and that whole chopping thing? (Whether it’s true or not, we all remember!) Cherries are everywhere, so let’s find out a little bit more about this fragrant fruit.

• Cherries share their genus, Prunus, with almonds, peaches, plums and apricots, and can grow in nearly every climate and condition in the world (including, apparently, the tundra). Edible cherry varieties originated primarily in Europe and western Asia. Although around 75 percent of world production originates in Europe, the United States also produces a number of species, with which you can acquaint yourself here.

• My personal introduction to cherries came with the Maraschino, probably the most fake-but-still-edible “fruit” to exist, or as this article puts it, “the artificially flavored brine cherry, survivor of red dye cancer scares, that sits at the bottom of a Manhattan cocktail or at the summit of an ice cream sundae.” Maraschino cherries were developed at Oregon State University in the 1920s, and the school still offers a course in the matter: Food Science and Technology 102—the Maraschino Cherry. Food for thought!

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Sushi is a fairly new phenomenon in the United States. I have quite a few relatives who have never in their lives ventured to a sushi joint and enjoyed the wonderful experience of raw fish and rice. Though a big fan of it myself (as a person who even occasionally boils up seaweed for a snack), there’s a lot I still don’t know about the history and art of sushi. So let’s dive in, shall we?

• Edomae-sushi was first brought to the United States from Tokyo in the early 1960s. While looking for Japanese products to sell in the US, executives from Mutual Trading Company instead brought back an entire culinary experience, which they kicked off in Los Angeles. In the way America must make things its own, the California Roll was soon born. It was originally created to substitute for a maki roll made with toro (fatty tuna). Because the fish was seasonal, the thought was to create a roll that had the similar texture and flavor as toro when the fish was out of season.

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Just after I asked you guys how to get rid of that high salt content in Ramen a few weeks ago, here I am pouring it on (nudge nudge) this week. This post contains 27% of your daily value for salt, one of the most important compounds and foodstuffs known to man.

• Of course, salt has many other uses besides enhancing flavor and preserving food. As most of you know, it was also used to preserve humans. One of the most interesting naturally-occurring cases is that of the “Iranian Salt Men,” whose remains from 1800 years ago have been preserved naturally in salt mines. Even their hair stayed intact!
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Because I indulged heavily in the stuff last night, I’ll let others do the eloquent speaking for me on the subject of this most beloved beverage:

“Wine makes a man better pleased with himself. I do not say that it makes him more pleasing to others…. This is one of the disadvantages of wine, it makes a man mistake words for thoughts.” –Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)

“Let us have wine and women, mirth and laughter, Sermons and soda-water the day after.” –Lord Byron (1788–1824)

Being as this is such an expansive topic, I’ll try and stick to some facts and figure you may not know about wine. To learn more about the basics, check out this site or, you know, this ole standby.

• There are plenty of famous wine advocates besides Bacchus and Johnny “Wino Forever” Depp. In fact, one was a Founding Father. According Jay McInerney’s New York Times review of John Hailman’s Thomas Jefferson on Wine, “Jefferson was not only a connoisseur, but a proselytizer. He planted dozens of grape varieties at Monticello, and though he never succeeded in producing a vintage, he predicted that someday America would compete with France and Italy as a wine-producing nation. He believed wine was a healthier beverage than the whiskey and brandy that were consumed in such vast quantities in the colonies, and while in and out of office he pushed for lower import duties. ‘No nation is drunken where wine is cheap,’ he declared, ‘and none sober where the dearness of wine substitutes ardent spirits as the common beverage. It is, in truth, the only antidote to the bane of whiskey.’” Jefferson even installed wine elevators that led directly to the wine cellar from his dinning room.
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