Iceberg lettuce, oakleaf lettuce, romaine, and all other lettuces that we eat nowadays, descend from wild plants that were modified 6000 years ago in the Caucasus so that plant oil could be harvested from the seeds. After the ancient Greek and Romans further bred the plants to use them as leafy vegetables, lettuce also ended up on our plates over time. The special history of lettuce has been described in detail thanks to the DNA analysis of 445 types of lettuce, conducted by Wageningen University & Research and the Chinese BGI. Their research will be published today in the authoritative periodical Nature Genetics and opens the door to faster and more effective breeding of more resilient food crops.