Yuma, Arizona: Cheers to a good Caesar Salad

Yuma is located South-West of Arizona, near the Mexico and California borders, where the Colorado and Gila Rivers meet. The weather is fair all year long and rate of criminality is one of the lowest in the United States.

We try not to travel after 5h00 pm with the motorhome. However, under certain circumstances we sometimes don’t get settle down until the evening and it’s only in the morning that we discover in what kind of location we spent the night. That’s how we discovered Yuma. When opening the shades of my bedroom that morning I could see hundreds of Mexican men a few feet from the motorhome with their rear ends up in the air. They were picking lettuce. Turns out that the Town of Yuma is the biggest lettuce producer of the United States. Yet, it is located in the middle of the desert.

Due to ingenious irrigation systems which pump water from the Colorado River, lettuce fields have invaded the desert. Two crops per year: one in November and the other in February. Purely by chance, we arrived in Yuma at the beginning of the February harvest. I am anxious to take a closer look.

The general foreman, a VERY VERY pleasant man decides to takes me under his wing and explain the harvest process. He is supported by assistant foremen who insure the proper functioning of the picking teams. Most of his Mexican workers have a green card (work permit in the US) and they all are excellent workers according to the foreman.



Each team consists of approximately thirty pickers. At the end of each day they share team profits equally. Lazy workers are not tolerated very long. Lettuce is placed in boxes as soon they are picked. Trucks are waiting and as soon as the refrigeration temperature is controlled, the nice greens are put on their way to American groceries.

That night we had two nice Roman lettuces given to us by the foreman and filled with olive oil, garlic and croutons. Below is my own Caesar salad recipe, which is very good.

Caesar salad for two: one big Roman lettuce or two small ones in a large bowl.
Dressing: three crushed garlic, 1 tb of Worcestershire sauce, ¼ ts dry mustard, ¼ cup of lemon juice, one can of anchovies, rinsed and finely chopped (bacon bits if you don’t like anchovies), ¼ cup of olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix all the ingredients and pour on the salad. Toss delicately. Two hard boiled eggs cooked 2 minutes at the most. Beat the eggs vigorously. Pour on the salad. Mix up. Sprinkle ½ cup of fresh parmesan cheese and add the garlic croutons. Mix and serve.



Biological products at Trader Joe’s groceries are excellent. There are only a few stores but they are worth seeing. Besides naturals products you will find a very good variety of coffees, breads, cheeses and good wines.