When my mom would prepare lettuces she'd
always leave out the "heart" of the lettuce for me to eat; she'd give me the sweetest,
most tender and tastiest part, reserving it for me. Same for the "heart" of the watermelon. Besides
the memories of love and care I've attached to this gesture and this part of the produce, I've always just loved
the language around the whole thing. I love how we call the inner center of the watermelon and the lettuce the heart.
I love the idea of the most tender and sweetest part of the fruit being represented as a heart (someone tell me that isn't
just exclusive to the Greek language).
Also, my name being maria, my mom used to call me "μαρουλάκι"
(mɐ-ɾu-lɐ-ki) which literally means little lettuce! And yes, I love a lettuce salad too.
