`LETTUCE' CELEBRATE: MAY IS NATIONAL SALAD MONTH

`LETTUCE' CELEBRATE: MAY IS NATIONAL SALAD MONTH

CHICAGO (Wireless Flash) -- A group called the Association for Dressings and Sauces has declared May National Salad Month. A spokesperson says Americans need to improve their "lettuce literacy" by trying out different types of salad greens all this month. In the meantime, here's some salad facts to chew on... -- Lettuce was eaten by the ancient Egyptians, and it appears in tomb paintings from at least 4500 years ago. -- The word "salad" was coined by a Roman chef who sprinkled salt on a head of Romaine lettuce and dubbed the creation "herba salata," or "salted greens." -- The average American eats at least 23 heads of iceberg lettuce every year, as well as 6 heads of romaine and around two heads of spinach. -- And, finally, during Elizabethan times, folks consumed dried lettuce juice as a sleeping aid.

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