For much of my childhood, there was no iceberg lettuce in my house. The reason? The farmworkers in the central valley of California who picked lettuce organized a boycott to pressure farmers to give them decent wages and working conditions. Cesar Chavez, who founded the United Farmworkers Union, was a hero to my family.
There are lots of reasons a kitchen could be iceberg lettuce-less. It has no flavor. And zero nutritional value. Did it matter to the farmworkers whether people were avoiding iceberg for reasons of solidarity, taste, or nutrition? Not much.