Sometimes finding your way through this leafy green world can be a bit overwhelming! In the parade of lettuces you'll find the popular butter lettuce (Boston or Bibb) like an unopened rose, long-leafed romaine, and Iceberg, its leaves forming a tightly-closed head as if protecting itself from the cold.

Less well-known, but also part of the family, are curly and leaf lettuces such as "oak leaf," whose long leaves have a faintly nutty flavor.

The array of chicories (endive) is no less diverse: there are the red chicories like Venetia, Treviso and radicchio, flaunting their brilliant color alongside their pale cousin, Belgian endive, which has never seen the sun. Among other developed varieties are escarole, whose large leaves are joined in a cone shape, and frisée, or curly endive.

According to the Bible, lettuce was among the plants prescribed by Moses to the Israelites to surround the Pascal lamb, a reminder of the bitterness of exile. Over the centuries, and with improvements in growing methods, lettuce exchanged its ruffled dress and its bitterness for an opulent satin greenery, like the dress of a dancer about to do the minuet, and the mild milky flavor that we know today.

Pythagoreans called lettuce "the eunuchs' plant" for the sedating effective it was believed to have on the genital organs, a property it was regularly attributed with over the centuries and which made it a symbol of chastity.

The Romans were great lovers of lettuce (despite its anti-aphrodisiac properties!) and ate it to prepare their stomachs for the feats of the banquet table.

Mesclun
It is around Nice, in southern France, that mesclumo was born, a patchwork of little lettuces and salad greens, a dance in which there is no obvious leader: escarole, lettuce, arugula, oak leaf, treviso, chicory, lamb's lettuce…

It is said that the monks of the monastery of Cimiez were so poor that they were unable even to sow a row of the same kind of lettuce. Mesclumo, a delight for the eye with its symphony of greens and dark reds, and a pleasure for the palate with its multiple flavors, came to refer to this mixture of greens collected according to the whim of the harvest, given as an expression of thanks to the villagers who gave the monks alms.

This slightly-bitter mixed salad can be dressed with a simple drizzle of olive oil, seasoned with herbs, garlic or even anchovies; you can add croutons, bacon bits or pieces of sautéed chicken livers. Mesclun is also an excellent accompaniment to goat cheese.