Lettuce sandwich
Encyclopedia
A lettuce sandwich is either a bread
sandwich
made with lettuce
as its only filling, or a breadless sandwich, with a filling optionally inserted between two leaves of lettuce or rolled inside one large lettuce leaf. In the later case it is often referred to as a lettuce wrap.
It should not be confused with other sandwiches that use lettuce as one of many ingredients, such as the BLT sandwich
or the tomato and lettuce sandwich. The lettuce sandwich has a long history in both the United States
and the United Kingdom
. It has been used as a metaphor to represent things like mundanity, weakness and poverty. There are allegedly health benefits to eating lettuce sandwiches, such as promoting weight loss
and remedying insomnia
, and they are sometimes part of a vegetarian diet.
The lettuce sandwich (bread with a lettuce filling) was a common food in the United States
and England
during the first half of the 20th century; preferred by the youth and served at fine luncheon
s.
Lettuce sandwiches have been served in school
s in the United States.
The lettuce sandwich (bread with lettuce filling) is also an old-fashioned English food. Lettuce sandwiches are still prevalent in the US and elsewhere.
can optionally be butter
ed or spread with mayonnaise
, and then lettuce is placed between the two slices of bread. To prepare a breadless lettuce sandwich, roll any filling inside a large leaf of lettuce or place it between two leaves of lettuce. Two leaves of lettuce with no filling can also be eaten as a lettuce sandwich. Other variations on the lettuce sandwich also exist, such as the pickled lettuce sandwich.
The west-coast hamburger
chain In-N-Out
offers a lettuce sandwich called "the Protein" or "Protein Style" on their hidden menu. It is a hamburger patty wrapped in lettuce instead of the traditional bun.
to represent something unattractive, unappealing, weak, or mundane.
In this sense, the term "limp (or soggy) lettuce sandwich" is often used.
Being on a "lettuce sandwich diet" refers to getting by on the bare minimum with absolutely nothing more than the necessities of life.
The lettuce sandwich is sometimes indicative of poverty
or hardship, and also represents lack of sufficient nourishment. The lettuce sandwich is considered a humble, tasteless food. It can be used to represent disappointment as in "life was like a lettuce sandwich over the sink".
.
This is due to opiate
-like chemicals contained in lettuce that help relax and sedate the body, along with the sleep-inducing effect of the carbohydrate
s in the bread.
Lettuce sandwiches (no bread) are also eaten to promote weight loss
.
Lettuce sandwiches (bread filled with lettuce) can also be a good food choice for the health-conscious.
The lettuce sandwich (bread filled with lettuce)—which contains no meat—is often found in vegetarian diets.
bacteria.
TV series. Celebrities such as Morris Graves
A lettuce sandwich is either a bread
sandwich
made with lettuce
as its only filling, or a breadless sandwich, with a filling optionally inserted between two leaves of lettuce or rolled inside one large lettuce leaf. In the later case it is often referred to as a lettuce wrap.
It should not be confused with other sandwiches that use lettuce as one of many ingredients, such as the BLT sandwich
or the tomato and lettuce sandwich. The lettuce sandwich has a long history in both the United States
and the United Kingdom
. It has been used as a metaphor to represent things like mundanity, weakness and poverty. There are allegedly health benefits to eating lettuce sandwiches, such as promoting weight loss
and remedying insomnia
, and they are sometimes part of a vegetarian diet.
The lettuce sandwich (bread with a lettuce filling) was a common food in the United States
and England
during the first half of the 20th century; preferred by the youth and served at fine luncheon
s.
Lettuce sandwiches have been served in school
s in the United States.
The lettuce sandwich (bread with lettuce filling) is also an old-fashioned English food. Lettuce sandwiches are still prevalent in the US and elsewhere.
can optionally be butter
ed or spread with mayonnaise
, and then lettuce is placed between the two slices of bread. To prepare a breadless lettuce sandwich, roll any filling inside a large leaf of lettuce or place it between two leaves of lettuce. Two leaves of lettuce with no filling can also be eaten as a lettuce sandwich. Other variations on the lettuce sandwich also exist, such as the pickled lettuce sandwich.
The west-coast hamburger
chain In-N-Out
offers a lettuce sandwich called "the Protein" or "Protein Style" on their hidden menu. It is a hamburger patty wrapped in lettuce instead of the traditional bun.
to represent something unattractive, unappealing, weak, or mundane.
In this sense, the term "limp (or soggy) lettuce sandwich" is often used.
Being on a "lettuce sandwich diet" refers to getting by on the bare minimum with absolutely nothing more than the necessities of life.
The lettuce sandwich is sometimes indicative of poverty
or hardship, and also represents lack of sufficient nourishment. The lettuce sandwich is considered a humble, tasteless food. It can be used to represent disappointment as in "life was like a lettuce sandwich over the sink".
.
This is due to opiate
-like chemicals contained in lettuce that help relax and sedate the body, along with the sleep-inducing effect of the carbohydrate
s in the bread.
Lettuce sandwiches (no bread) are also eaten to promote weight loss
.
Lettuce sandwiches (bread filled with lettuce) can also be a good food choice for the health-conscious.
The lettuce sandwich (bread filled with lettuce)—which contains no meat—is often found in vegetarian diets.
bacteria.
TV series. Celebrities such as Morris Graves
A lettuce sandwich is either a bread
sandwich
made with lettuce
as its only filling, or a breadless sandwich, with a filling optionally inserted between two leaves of lettuce or rolled inside one large lettuce leaf. In the later case it is often referred to as a lettuce wrap.
It should not be confused with other sandwiches that use lettuce as one of many ingredients, such as the BLT sandwich
or the tomato and lettuce sandwich. The lettuce sandwich has a long history in both the United States
and the United Kingdom
. It has been used as a metaphor to represent things like mundanity, weakness and poverty. There are allegedly health benefits to eating lettuce sandwiches, such as promoting weight loss
and remedying insomnia
, and they are sometimes part of a vegetarian diet.
The lettuce sandwich (bread with a lettuce filling) was a common food in the United States
and England
during the first half of the 20th century; preferred by the youth and served at fine luncheon
s.
Lettuce sandwiches have been served in school
s in the United States.
The lettuce sandwich (bread with lettuce filling) is also an old-fashioned English food. Lettuce sandwiches are still prevalent in the US and elsewhere.
can optionally be butter
ed or spread with mayonnaise
, and then lettuce is placed between the two slices of bread. To prepare a breadless lettuce sandwich, roll any filling inside a large leaf of lettuce or place it between two leaves of lettuce. Two leaves of lettuce with no filling can also be eaten as a lettuce sandwich. Other variations on the lettuce sandwich also exist, such as the pickled lettuce sandwich.
The west-coast hamburger
chain In-N-Out
offers a lettuce sandwich called "the Protein" or "Protein Style" on their hidden menu. It is a hamburger patty wrapped in lettuce instead of the traditional bun.
to represent something unattractive, unappealing, weak, or mundane.
In this sense, the term "limp (or soggy) lettuce sandwich" is often used.
Being on a "lettuce sandwich diet" refers to getting by on the bare minimum with absolutely nothing more than the necessities of life.
The lettuce sandwich is sometimes indicative of poverty
or hardship, and also represents lack of sufficient nourishment. The lettuce sandwich is considered a humble, tasteless food. It can be used to represent disappointment as in "life was like a lettuce sandwich over the sink".
.
This is due to opiate
-like chemicals contained in lettuce that help relax and sedate the body, along with the sleep-inducing effect of the carbohydrate
s in the bread.
Lettuce sandwiches (no bread) are also eaten to promote weight loss
.
Lettuce sandwiches (bread filled with lettuce) can also be a good food choice for the health-conscious.
The lettuce sandwich (bread filled with lettuce)—which contains no meat—is often found in vegetarian diets.
bacteria.
TV series. Celebrities such as Morris Graves
Mariah Carey
and Edgar Crook, author of Vegetarianism in Australia, have eaten lettuce sandwiches.
Bread
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...
sandwich
Sandwich
A sandwich is a food item, typically consisting of two or more slices of :bread with one or more fillings between them, or one slice of bread with a topping or toppings, commonly called an open sandwich. Sandwiches are a widely popular type of lunch food, typically taken to work or school, or...
made with lettuce
Lettuce
Lettuce is a temperate annual or biennial plant of the daisy family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable. It is eaten either raw, notably in salads, sandwiches, hamburgers, tacos, and many other dishes, or cooked, as in Chinese cuisine in which the stem becomes just as important...
as its only filling, or a breadless sandwich, with a filling optionally inserted between two leaves of lettuce or rolled inside one large lettuce leaf. In the later case it is often referred to as a lettuce wrap.
It should not be confused with other sandwiches that use lettuce as one of many ingredients, such as the BLT sandwich
BLT sandwich
A BLT is a type of bacon sandwich. The standard BLT is made up of five ingredients: bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, and bread. The five ingredients can be altered according to preference; for example, the bread can be toasted and the mayonnaise home-made...
or the tomato and lettuce sandwich. The lettuce sandwich has a long history in both the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. It has been used as a metaphor to represent things like mundanity, weakness and poverty. There are allegedly health benefits to eating lettuce sandwiches, such as promoting weight loss
Weight loss
Weight loss, in the context of medicine, health or physical fitness, is a reduction of the total body mass, due to a mean loss of fluid, body fat or adipose tissue and/or lean mass, namely bone mineral deposits, muscle, tendon and other connective tissue...
and remedying insomnia
Insomnia
Insomnia is most often defined by an individual's report of sleeping difficulties. While the term is sometimes used in sleep literature to describe a disorder demonstrated by polysomnographic evidence of disturbed sleep, insomnia is often defined as a positive response to either of two questions:...
, and they are sometimes part of a vegetarian diet.
History
The lettuce sandwich was mentioned in print as early as 1894 in The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine.The lettuce sandwich (bread with a lettuce filling) was a common food in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
during the first half of the 20th century; preferred by the youth and served at fine luncheon
Luncheon
Luncheon, commonly abbreviated to lunch, is a mid-day meal, and is smaller than dinner.In English-speaking countries during the eighteenth century, lunch was originally called "dinner"— a word still used regularly to mean a noontime meal in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and some parts of England,...
s.
Lettuce sandwiches have been served in school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
s in the United States.
The lettuce sandwich (bread with lettuce filling) is also an old-fashioned English food. Lettuce sandwiches are still prevalent in the US and elsewhere.
Preparation
When making a bread and lettuce sandwich, the breadBread
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...
can optionally be butter
Butter
Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
ed or spread with mayonnaise
Mayonnaise
Mayonnaise, , often abbreviated as mayo, is a sauce. It is a stable emulsion of oil, egg yolk and either vinegar or lemon juice, with many options for embellishment with other herbs and spices. Lecithin in the egg yolk is the emulsifier. Mayonnaise varies in color but is often white, cream, or pale...
, and then lettuce is placed between the two slices of bread. To prepare a breadless lettuce sandwich, roll any filling inside a large leaf of lettuce or place it between two leaves of lettuce. Two leaves of lettuce with no filling can also be eaten as a lettuce sandwich. Other variations on the lettuce sandwich also exist, such as the pickled lettuce sandwich.
The west-coast hamburger
Hamburger
A hamburger is a sandwich consisting of a cooked patty of ground meat usually placed inside a sliced bread roll...
chain In-N-Out
In-N-Out Burger
In-N-Out Burger is a regional chain of fast food restaurants with locations in the western United States. Founded in 1948 by Harry Snyder and his wife Esther, establishing the first In-N-Out burger in Baldwin Park and headquartered in Irvine, California, In-N-Out Burger has since expanded outside...
offers a lettuce sandwich called "the Protein" or "Protein Style" on their hidden menu. It is a hamburger patty wrapped in lettuce instead of the traditional bun.
Metaphors
The lettuce sandwich has also become a cultural metaphorMetaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
to represent something unattractive, unappealing, weak, or mundane.
In this sense, the term "limp (or soggy) lettuce sandwich" is often used.
Being on a "lettuce sandwich diet" refers to getting by on the bare minimum with absolutely nothing more than the necessities of life.
The lettuce sandwich is sometimes indicative of poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
or hardship, and also represents lack of sufficient nourishment. The lettuce sandwich is considered a humble, tasteless food. It can be used to represent disappointment as in "life was like a lettuce sandwich over the sink".
Health benefits
A lettuce sandwich is a sleep-inducing remedy for insomniaInsomnia
Insomnia is most often defined by an individual's report of sleeping difficulties. While the term is sometimes used in sleep literature to describe a disorder demonstrated by polysomnographic evidence of disturbed sleep, insomnia is often defined as a positive response to either of two questions:...
.
This is due to opiate
Opiate
In medicine, the term opiate describes any of the narcotic opioid alkaloids found as natural products in the opium poppy plant.-Overview:Opiates are so named because they are constituents or derivatives of constituents found in opium, which is processed from the latex sap of the opium poppy,...
-like chemicals contained in lettuce that help relax and sedate the body, along with the sleep-inducing effect of the carbohydrate
Carbohydrate
A carbohydrate is an organic compound with the empirical formula ; that is, consists only of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, with a hydrogen:oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 . However, there are exceptions to this. One common example would be deoxyribose, a component of DNA, which has the empirical...
s in the bread.
Lettuce sandwiches (no bread) are also eaten to promote weight loss
Weight loss
Weight loss, in the context of medicine, health or physical fitness, is a reduction of the total body mass, due to a mean loss of fluid, body fat or adipose tissue and/or lean mass, namely bone mineral deposits, muscle, tendon and other connective tissue...
.
Lettuce sandwiches (bread filled with lettuce) can also be a good food choice for the health-conscious.
The lettuce sandwich (bread filled with lettuce)—which contains no meat—is often found in vegetarian diets.
Health risks
There have been deaths attributed to eating lettuce sandwiches, due to lettuce contaminated with the E.coliEscherichia coli
Escherichia coli is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms . Most E. coli strains are harmless, but some serotypes can cause serious food poisoning in humans, and are occasionally responsible for product recalls...
bacteria.
In media
A reference to a lettuce sandwich was made in the I Solemnly Swear episode of the Gilmore GirlsGilmore Girls
Gilmore Girls is an American family comedy-drama series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. On October 5, 2000, the series debuted on The WB and was cancelled in its seventh season, ending on May 15, 2007 on The CW...
TV series. Celebrities such as Morris Graves
Morris Graves
Morris Cole Graves was an American expressionist painter. Along with Guy Anderson, Kenneth Callahan, William Cumming, and Mark Tobey, he founded the Northwest School. Graves was also a mystic.-Early years:...
A lettuce sandwich is either a bread
Bread
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...
sandwich
Sandwich
A sandwich is a food item, typically consisting of two or more slices of :bread with one or more fillings between them, or one slice of bread with a topping or toppings, commonly called an open sandwich. Sandwiches are a widely popular type of lunch food, typically taken to work or school, or...
made with lettuce
Lettuce
Lettuce is a temperate annual or biennial plant of the daisy family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable. It is eaten either raw, notably in salads, sandwiches, hamburgers, tacos, and many other dishes, or cooked, as in Chinese cuisine in which the stem becomes just as important...
as its only filling, or a breadless sandwich, with a filling optionally inserted between two leaves of lettuce or rolled inside one large lettuce leaf. In the later case it is often referred to as a lettuce wrap.
It should not be confused with other sandwiches that use lettuce as one of many ingredients, such as the BLT sandwich
BLT sandwich
A BLT is a type of bacon sandwich. The standard BLT is made up of five ingredients: bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, and bread. The five ingredients can be altered according to preference; for example, the bread can be toasted and the mayonnaise home-made...
or the tomato and lettuce sandwich. The lettuce sandwich has a long history in both the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. It has been used as a metaphor to represent things like mundanity, weakness and poverty. There are allegedly health benefits to eating lettuce sandwiches, such as promoting weight loss
Weight loss
Weight loss, in the context of medicine, health or physical fitness, is a reduction of the total body mass, due to a mean loss of fluid, body fat or adipose tissue and/or lean mass, namely bone mineral deposits, muscle, tendon and other connective tissue...
and remedying insomnia
Insomnia
Insomnia is most often defined by an individual's report of sleeping difficulties. While the term is sometimes used in sleep literature to describe a disorder demonstrated by polysomnographic evidence of disturbed sleep, insomnia is often defined as a positive response to either of two questions:...
, and they are sometimes part of a vegetarian diet.
History
The lettuce sandwich was mentioned in print as early as 1894 in The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine.The lettuce sandwich (bread with a lettuce filling) was a common food in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
during the first half of the 20th century; preferred by the youth and served at fine luncheon
Luncheon
Luncheon, commonly abbreviated to lunch, is a mid-day meal, and is smaller than dinner.In English-speaking countries during the eighteenth century, lunch was originally called "dinner"— a word still used regularly to mean a noontime meal in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and some parts of England,...
s.
Lettuce sandwiches have been served in school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
s in the United States.
The lettuce sandwich (bread with lettuce filling) is also an old-fashioned English food. Lettuce sandwiches are still prevalent in the US and elsewhere.
Preparation
When making a bread and lettuce sandwich, the breadBread
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...
can optionally be butter
Butter
Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
ed or spread with mayonnaise
Mayonnaise
Mayonnaise, , often abbreviated as mayo, is a sauce. It is a stable emulsion of oil, egg yolk and either vinegar or lemon juice, with many options for embellishment with other herbs and spices. Lecithin in the egg yolk is the emulsifier. Mayonnaise varies in color but is often white, cream, or pale...
, and then lettuce is placed between the two slices of bread. To prepare a breadless lettuce sandwich, roll any filling inside a large leaf of lettuce or place it between two leaves of lettuce. Two leaves of lettuce with no filling can also be eaten as a lettuce sandwich. Other variations on the lettuce sandwich also exist, such as the pickled lettuce sandwich.
The west-coast hamburger
Hamburger
A hamburger is a sandwich consisting of a cooked patty of ground meat usually placed inside a sliced bread roll...
chain In-N-Out
In-N-Out Burger
In-N-Out Burger is a regional chain of fast food restaurants with locations in the western United States. Founded in 1948 by Harry Snyder and his wife Esther, establishing the first In-N-Out burger in Baldwin Park and headquartered in Irvine, California, In-N-Out Burger has since expanded outside...
offers a lettuce sandwich called "the Protein" or "Protein Style" on their hidden menu. It is a hamburger patty wrapped in lettuce instead of the traditional bun.
Metaphors
The lettuce sandwich has also become a cultural metaphorMetaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
to represent something unattractive, unappealing, weak, or mundane.
In this sense, the term "limp (or soggy) lettuce sandwich" is often used.
Being on a "lettuce sandwich diet" refers to getting by on the bare minimum with absolutely nothing more than the necessities of life.
The lettuce sandwich is sometimes indicative of poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
or hardship, and also represents lack of sufficient nourishment. The lettuce sandwich is considered a humble, tasteless food. It can be used to represent disappointment as in "life was like a lettuce sandwich over the sink".
Health benefits
A lettuce sandwich is a sleep-inducing remedy for insomniaInsomnia
Insomnia is most often defined by an individual's report of sleeping difficulties. While the term is sometimes used in sleep literature to describe a disorder demonstrated by polysomnographic evidence of disturbed sleep, insomnia is often defined as a positive response to either of two questions:...
.
This is due to opiate
Opiate
In medicine, the term opiate describes any of the narcotic opioid alkaloids found as natural products in the opium poppy plant.-Overview:Opiates are so named because they are constituents or derivatives of constituents found in opium, which is processed from the latex sap of the opium poppy,...
-like chemicals contained in lettuce that help relax and sedate the body, along with the sleep-inducing effect of the carbohydrate
Carbohydrate
A carbohydrate is an organic compound with the empirical formula ; that is, consists only of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, with a hydrogen:oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 . However, there are exceptions to this. One common example would be deoxyribose, a component of DNA, which has the empirical...
s in the bread.
Lettuce sandwiches (no bread) are also eaten to promote weight loss
Weight loss
Weight loss, in the context of medicine, health or physical fitness, is a reduction of the total body mass, due to a mean loss of fluid, body fat or adipose tissue and/or lean mass, namely bone mineral deposits, muscle, tendon and other connective tissue...
.
Lettuce sandwiches (bread filled with lettuce) can also be a good food choice for the health-conscious.
The lettuce sandwich (bread filled with lettuce)—which contains no meat—is often found in vegetarian diets.
Health risks
There have been deaths attributed to eating lettuce sandwiches, due to lettuce contaminated with the E.coliEscherichia coli
Escherichia coli is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms . Most E. coli strains are harmless, but some serotypes can cause serious food poisoning in humans, and are occasionally responsible for product recalls...
bacteria.
In media
A reference to a lettuce sandwich was made in the I Solemnly Swear episode of the Gilmore GirlsGilmore Girls
Gilmore Girls is an American family comedy-drama series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. On October 5, 2000, the series debuted on The WB and was cancelled in its seventh season, ending on May 15, 2007 on The CW...
TV series. Celebrities such as Morris Graves
Morris Graves
Morris Cole Graves was an American expressionist painter. Along with Guy Anderson, Kenneth Callahan, William Cumming, and Mark Tobey, he founded the Northwest School. Graves was also a mystic.-Early years:...
A lettuce sandwich is either a bread
Bread
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...
sandwich
Sandwich
A sandwich is a food item, typically consisting of two or more slices of :bread with one or more fillings between them, or one slice of bread with a topping or toppings, commonly called an open sandwich. Sandwiches are a widely popular type of lunch food, typically taken to work or school, or...
made with lettuce
Lettuce
Lettuce is a temperate annual or biennial plant of the daisy family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable. It is eaten either raw, notably in salads, sandwiches, hamburgers, tacos, and many other dishes, or cooked, as in Chinese cuisine in which the stem becomes just as important...
as its only filling, or a breadless sandwich, with a filling optionally inserted between two leaves of lettuce or rolled inside one large lettuce leaf. In the later case it is often referred to as a lettuce wrap.
It should not be confused with other sandwiches that use lettuce as one of many ingredients, such as the BLT sandwich
BLT sandwich
A BLT is a type of bacon sandwich. The standard BLT is made up of five ingredients: bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, and bread. The five ingredients can be altered according to preference; for example, the bread can be toasted and the mayonnaise home-made...
or the tomato and lettuce sandwich. The lettuce sandwich has a long history in both the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. It has been used as a metaphor to represent things like mundanity, weakness and poverty. There are allegedly health benefits to eating lettuce sandwiches, such as promoting weight loss
Weight loss
Weight loss, in the context of medicine, health or physical fitness, is a reduction of the total body mass, due to a mean loss of fluid, body fat or adipose tissue and/or lean mass, namely bone mineral deposits, muscle, tendon and other connective tissue...
and remedying insomnia
Insomnia
Insomnia is most often defined by an individual's report of sleeping difficulties. While the term is sometimes used in sleep literature to describe a disorder demonstrated by polysomnographic evidence of disturbed sleep, insomnia is often defined as a positive response to either of two questions:...
, and they are sometimes part of a vegetarian diet.
History
The lettuce sandwich was mentioned in print as early as 1894 in The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine.The lettuce sandwich (bread with a lettuce filling) was a common food in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
during the first half of the 20th century; preferred by the youth and served at fine luncheon
Luncheon
Luncheon, commonly abbreviated to lunch, is a mid-day meal, and is smaller than dinner.In English-speaking countries during the eighteenth century, lunch was originally called "dinner"— a word still used regularly to mean a noontime meal in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and some parts of England,...
s.
Lettuce sandwiches have been served in school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
s in the United States.
The lettuce sandwich (bread with lettuce filling) is also an old-fashioned English food. Lettuce sandwiches are still prevalent in the US and elsewhere.
Preparation
When making a bread and lettuce sandwich, the breadBread
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...
can optionally be butter
Butter
Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
ed or spread with mayonnaise
Mayonnaise
Mayonnaise, , often abbreviated as mayo, is a sauce. It is a stable emulsion of oil, egg yolk and either vinegar or lemon juice, with many options for embellishment with other herbs and spices. Lecithin in the egg yolk is the emulsifier. Mayonnaise varies in color but is often white, cream, or pale...
, and then lettuce is placed between the two slices of bread. To prepare a breadless lettuce sandwich, roll any filling inside a large leaf of lettuce or place it between two leaves of lettuce. Two leaves of lettuce with no filling can also be eaten as a lettuce sandwich. Other variations on the lettuce sandwich also exist, such as the pickled lettuce sandwich.
The west-coast hamburger
Hamburger
A hamburger is a sandwich consisting of a cooked patty of ground meat usually placed inside a sliced bread roll...
chain In-N-Out
In-N-Out Burger
In-N-Out Burger is a regional chain of fast food restaurants with locations in the western United States. Founded in 1948 by Harry Snyder and his wife Esther, establishing the first In-N-Out burger in Baldwin Park and headquartered in Irvine, California, In-N-Out Burger has since expanded outside...
offers a lettuce sandwich called "the Protein" or "Protein Style" on their hidden menu. It is a hamburger patty wrapped in lettuce instead of the traditional bun.
Metaphors
The lettuce sandwich has also become a cultural metaphorMetaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
to represent something unattractive, unappealing, weak, or mundane.
In this sense, the term "limp (or soggy) lettuce sandwich" is often used.
Being on a "lettuce sandwich diet" refers to getting by on the bare minimum with absolutely nothing more than the necessities of life.
The lettuce sandwich is sometimes indicative of poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
or hardship, and also represents lack of sufficient nourishment. The lettuce sandwich is considered a humble, tasteless food. It can be used to represent disappointment as in "life was like a lettuce sandwich over the sink".
Health benefits
A lettuce sandwich is a sleep-inducing remedy for insomniaInsomnia
Insomnia is most often defined by an individual's report of sleeping difficulties. While the term is sometimes used in sleep literature to describe a disorder demonstrated by polysomnographic evidence of disturbed sleep, insomnia is often defined as a positive response to either of two questions:...
.
This is due to opiate
Opiate
In medicine, the term opiate describes any of the narcotic opioid alkaloids found as natural products in the opium poppy plant.-Overview:Opiates are so named because they are constituents or derivatives of constituents found in opium, which is processed from the latex sap of the opium poppy,...
-like chemicals contained in lettuce that help relax and sedate the body, along with the sleep-inducing effect of the carbohydrate
Carbohydrate
A carbohydrate is an organic compound with the empirical formula ; that is, consists only of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, with a hydrogen:oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 . However, there are exceptions to this. One common example would be deoxyribose, a component of DNA, which has the empirical...
s in the bread.
Lettuce sandwiches (no bread) are also eaten to promote weight loss
Weight loss
Weight loss, in the context of medicine, health or physical fitness, is a reduction of the total body mass, due to a mean loss of fluid, body fat or adipose tissue and/or lean mass, namely bone mineral deposits, muscle, tendon and other connective tissue...
.
Lettuce sandwiches (bread filled with lettuce) can also be a good food choice for the health-conscious.
The lettuce sandwich (bread filled with lettuce)—which contains no meat—is often found in vegetarian diets.
Health risks
There have been deaths attributed to eating lettuce sandwiches, due to lettuce contaminated with the E.coliEscherichia coli
Escherichia coli is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms . Most E. coli strains are harmless, but some serotypes can cause serious food poisoning in humans, and are occasionally responsible for product recalls...
bacteria.
In media
A reference to a lettuce sandwich was made in the I Solemnly Swear episode of the Gilmore GirlsGilmore Girls
Gilmore Girls is an American family comedy-drama series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. On October 5, 2000, the series debuted on The WB and was cancelled in its seventh season, ending on May 15, 2007 on The CW...
TV series. Celebrities such as Morris Graves
Morris Graves
Morris Cole Graves was an American expressionist painter. Along with Guy Anderson, Kenneth Callahan, William Cumming, and Mark Tobey, he founded the Northwest School. Graves was also a mystic.-Early years:...
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...
and Edgar Crook, author of Vegetarianism in Australia, have eaten lettuce sandwiches.