Yuma Lettuce Days: Fresh Vegetables Galore

Who would have guessed that over 90% of the winter vegetables grown in the United States originate in the Yuma Arizona area? To celebrate being the “Winter Lettuce Capital of the World,” Yuma offers Yuma Lettuce Days every January.

Fresh Vegetables: History of Lettuce

We all know that lettuce is that green leafy stuff that is the main ingredient in most salads. However, this much-taken-for-granted vegetable has a long history reaching back thousands of years.

Today’s lettuce may have evolved from the wild prickly lettuce in the Mediterranean area. Bundles of lettuce started appearing in Egyptian tomb paintings about 4,500 years ago. Herodotus, the Greek historian from the 5th century BC, wrote the first known written accounts about lettuce when describing foods that royal Persians ate in 550 BC. Other ancient Greek writers, including Hippocrates and Aristotle, also wrote about lettuce.

Romans were quite enamored with lettuce. In fact, the Emperor Caesar Augustus praised Romaine lettuce because Augustus thought that eating Romaine helped to cure one of his illnesses. The Romans probably introduced lettuce into other parts of Europe as the Empire expanded.

Christopher Columbus likely introduced lettuce into the New World, perhaps during the explorer’s second visit. No one is exactly sure how lettuce arrived in South America. However, it is known that the Pilgrims introduced lettuce into North America along with other vegetables from the Old World.

Fresh Vegetables: Interesting Lettuce Facts

• The Egyptian god, Min, god of fertility and sexuality, enjoyed lettuce as a favorite food.
   
• By the time of the ancient Greeks, perceptions of lettuce had changed. Many thought that lettuce would reduce lust.
   
• Romans boiled lettuce and ate it after meals as a sedative and digestive.
   
• Lettuce was thought to stimulate women’s production of breast milk, so women often ate lettuce after giving birth.
   
• During the 16th century, lettuce was thought to prevent hangovers.
   
• Iceberg lettuce was called “crisphead” lettuce before the 1920s. The name changed as California growers transported this lettuce out of the state packed under ice to keep the vegetables fresh.
   
• Iceberg lettuce does have some nutritional value. This type of lettuce contains foliate, a water soluble vitamin from the B family. However, Romaine does contain more foliate as well as other vitamins than does iceberg.

Yuma Lettuce Days

Yuma Lettuce Days offers you three days of lettuce and winter vegetable fun. You can stroll through the Farmer’s Market and special exhibits. You can listen to music, enjoy a hypnotist, or watch square dancing. You might want to take advantage of a free field bus tour. Of course, you can also indulge in a scrumptious salad bar.

Yuma Lettuce Days

Laura Evans is an Antique Dealer specializing in California Pottery. She is also a freelance writer and a tutor. She spends the small amount of free time that she has with her husband, two dogs, and four cats. Visit her at Family Fun Adventures in the Southwestern United States