So why is it that tomato always follows lettuce when you’re ordering a sandwich? When the preparer asks you “lettuce?,” you can bet that next out of her mouth will be “tomato?”
Why is that? Why does the tomato, the most incredible of vegetable-like fruits, that which bursts with Southern summertime savoryness, have to follow the lowly lettuce? I mean, its enough to give tomatoes a serious inferiority complex, one so mightily undeserved.
To help right this wrong, next time try ordering tomato and then lettuce when you buy your next sandwich. You may confuse the lady behind the counter, but you’ll be giving top billing to its rightful owner: the tomato!