SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
It's been a terrible summer to crave a salad. Cyclospora, that nasty little parasite, has made its way to the stomachs and then bathrooms of more than 17,000 Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hundreds of people have been hospitalized. Two people have died. Many people have chosen to avoid leafy salads, at least temporarily. But Tamar Haspel, the James Beard Award-winning food and science columnist for The Washington Post, believes it might be better to abolish lettuce from our diets altogether. Tamar Haspel, thanks so much for being with us.
TAMAR HASPEL: Thanks for having me, Scott.
SIMON: So aside from the internal parasites, what's - if I might put it this way - your big beef with lettuce?
HASPEL: The beef with lettuce. And, of course, well, parasites sort of top the list that lettuce is our No. 1 vehicle for foodborne illness in this country. It causes nearly 2 million illnesses a year. It costs nearly $4 billion to deal with that. But lettuce has other issues, too. For starters, it's almost all water. I mean, you might have a water bottle on your desk right now that is the same percentage water as lettuce is. It's going to be 95% water, 5% bottle. Lettuce is 95% water, 5% lettuce. And if you think about the resources involved in growing it, picking it, keeping it refrigerated, packing it, shipping it and then you take it home. Every step in that chain, you're doing it to mostly water. And that's not an efficient way to feed a population.
SIMON: May I speak up on behalf of lettuce for a moment?
HASPEL: You may. You may.
SIMON: It's crispy.
HASPEL: It is crispy. And you introduced me as wanting to abolish lettuce, which isn't quite accurate. I don't have a policy position on lettuce. I eat lettuce. I enjoy lettuce. Sometimes it keeps me out of the lasagna if I have a nice leafy salad on my table. But I think if we're thinking about feeding a population responsibly, healthfully, while we protect our planet, we have to think through the resources that go into the food that we eat.
SIMON: So what might you recommend as a green alternative?
HASPEL: Well, most vegetables have less water than lettuce. So if you take broccoli, for example, it kind of sounds like it's similar. Lettuce is 95% water. Broccoli is 90% water. But if you flip that on its head, it means that there's twice as much vegetable in the vegetable when it's broccoli. And the other cruciferous vegetables - cabbages and things like that - are similar. But if you really want the nutritional bang for the buck, you got to go with the legumes. It's beans, lentils, chickpeas. Those are the ones that really deliver nutrition for the fewest calories.
SIMON: I gather you've heard from what I'll refer to as the lettuce lobby.
HASPEL: I have.
SIMON: So forgive me, but have you wilted under the criticism?
HASPEL: (Laughter) Oh, I learned not to read the comments a long time ago, but my husband sometimes does, and he gives me this synopsis. But it comes with the territory. If I'm in favor of the thing you're eating, then you think that I'm right, and if I oppose the thing you're eating, then I'm obviously an idiot. So that's just how it goes.
SIMON: Well, I'd love to keep talking to you, but I've been told my Caesar salad's just been delivered.
HASPEL: It's waiting for you. Enjoy it.
SIMON: Tamar Haspel of The Washington Post. Thanks so much for being with us.
HASPEL: Thanks, Scott.
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