An Ode to Lettuce from California

Frank, Frank, Frank!
How dare you raise my level of awareness!
How dare you bring me to think!
How dare you wake me from my self-gratifying obligatory slumber!

Lettuce from California an Ode to You

Oh lettuce!
How I want you for my salad
for my hamburger
for my sandwich!
But it is August
and too hot for you to grow
here
in East Tennessee.
Oh lettuce!
All the way
from
sunny California,
you look so crisp
and green
with luscious water droplets
clinging to your leaves.
How much energy
did it take to grow you?
How many calories
to produce you?
To pick you?
To clean you up?
To put that fancy tie twist on you?
(and subsequently, to produce that fancy organic twisty tie label?)
To put you on the truck?
To drive you here to hot, hot, hot
East Tennesee?
To keep you cool and crisp and luscious in the open case refrigerator?
And how many calories will you provide my body in return for my own selfish gratification?

Thank you, Frank, for putting a new twist on the lifestyle of eating locally. Well, a whamo to my thought process, really. This is a new justification for the local movements. Calories in. Calories out.

Growing your own food is the best local food to eat, but if one can not grow their own food read The Gardener's Editorial for further options.