When most people think of lettuce, they think of salads, but like any other food, it does not just appear on one’s table and not all lettuces have the same flavor or texture. Each one brings their own unique taste to the salad bowl. One of my favorites is Boston lettuce because of its cup like shape and mildly sweet taste. Arugula has become another one of my favorites because of its peppery nature and because it does not look like any other lettuce (not a head of lettuce). I also like radicchio, especially when blended with something sweet like butter lettuce, or grilled slightly. It also brings some color to the party. Watercress is one of those lettuces, which I never thought of as a lettuce, like arugula, because it does not grow in a head. It is another lettuce I like best when mixed with something else. Frisee is another one. I love blending lettuces that have different tastes and different textures, like the curly leaves of Frisee and the flowery leaves of red or green leaf lettuce. What I have found interesting is that the least nutritious of lettuces is the one that is most commonly sold and ingested – iceberg lettuce.
This made me wonder how often we ingest foods that are popular, but not nutritionally helpful. how socialized are we to ingesting spiritual foods that re no longer nourishing our soul or challenging us to expand our taste buds. How socialized have we become to lettuce as something that comes pre-cleaned and chopped in a bag, no longer thinking about where or how it grew or how it was grown?
Recently, I read an excerpt of an interview with Zen meditation master and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh. In this part of his interview, he talks about how it is the process of growing his own lettuce and other vegetables in his garden, which brings him joy, peace, and a greater understanding of life. Growing lettuce moves beyond just producing a vegetable to eat at the next meal. Growing lettuce because a vehicle through which he receives inspirations and revelations to share with humanity through his poetry and other writings. He explained,
"By living your life, by producing works of art, you contribute to the work of the collective awakening of our people. A bodhisattva is someone who is awake, mindful, and motivated by a desire to help others to wake up. The artist, the actor, the filmmaker, the novelist may be inspired by a desire to become a bodhisattva, helping with the awakening of the people, helping them to touch the seed of joy, of peace, of happiness in themselves, helping them to remove and transform the seeds of discrimination and fear and craving. The artist can do all this. If you are motivated by that desire, you will have so much joy and energy that fame and power will not appeal to you anymore. Nothing can be compared with that kind of joy, knowing that your life on Earth is beautiful and is helpful.
"One day in New York City I met a Buddhist scholar and I told her about my practice of mindfulness in the vegetable garden. I enjoy growing lettuce, tomatoes, and other vegetables and I like to spend time gardening every day. She said, 'You shouldn't spend your time growing vegetables. You should spend more time writing poems. Your poems are so beautiful. Everyone can grow lettuce, but not everyone can write poems like you do.' I told her, 'If I don't grow lettuce, I can't write poems.'
"When I'm taking care of the lettuce or watering my garden I don't think of poetry or writing. I focus my mind entirely on taking care of the lettuce, watering the vegetables and so on. I enjoy every moment and I do it in a mode of 'non-thinking.' It's very helpful to stop the thinking. Your art is conceived in the depths of your consciousness while you're not thinking about it. The moment when you express it is only a moment of birth, the moment you deliver the baby. For me, there must be moments when you allow the child inside you to grow, so you can do your best and your masterpiece can contain insight, understanding, and compassion.
"A work of art can help people understand the nature of their suffering and have insight into how to transform the negative and to develop the positive in themselves. Writing, making a film, creating a work of art can be an act of love. That act of love nourishes you and nourishes others. If you're happy, if you know how to live deeply every moment of your life, then deep understanding, joy, and compassion can come. Your art will reflect this understanding and will share it with others." {C}[1]
[1] http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/books/excerpts.php?id=18940