There’s a memorable scene in Albert Brooks’ under-rated movie Mother in which Brooks’ mom, played by Debbie Reynolds, offers to make him a salad. He’s just come back home to live with her after a divorce, and he’s soon confronted by her thrifty food habits - like freezing a two-year-old iceberg lettuce salad. Brooks stares down despondently at the wilted, sallow, pale, and no doubt flavorless chunk of “salad”. It seems to somehow symbolize the disappointment in his life and his challenging relationship with his mother.

I’d say that’s how I used to feel about salad - minus all the Oedipal/psychological baggage. But when I was a kid salad tended to be pretty disappointing: a few chunks of pale, watery iceberg lettuce topped with “Italian” dressing (often pronounced “Eye-talian” by the accented waitresses down south), and possibly sprinkled with bacon bits.

Maybe that’s why I’d never been all that enthused by the whole salad trend. I always knew that by eating salads I could get some of the fibre and vitamins I needed, but I just couldn’t be bothered to bite into a bed of boring leaves.

My mind was changed when I met arugula, endives, frisée, mâche … and all the other fascinatingly named greens of the classic spring green mix sometimes called mesclun, from the French word for “mixture.”

With vibrant shades of green, purple, yellow, and red, a mesclun aspires to appeal to a variety of senses. Dig into a mix of greens and you’ll taste mild, peppery, bitter, and even spicy. Your tongue will feel varied texture - the frizzy fronds of frisée, the dense crunch of radicchio, and the jagged edges of mizune.

The eclectic flavours of mesclun mix opened the “salad door” for me - now I’ll eat just about any bed of greens. No longer do I look down at iceberg lettuce in disappointment! And the good thing about salad is that while it’s low in calories, it’s packed with nutrients. And if you eat a salad before a meal, you’ll likely consume fewer calories once the main course comes to the table. Just be sure to check out these salad dressing do’s and don’ts before you top your greens.