I have very specific tastes with salad but the biggest no-no for me is iceberg lettuce. It always repeats on me. Raw apples do the same. Iceberg was the only lettuce available when I was young so it was a bit of a nightmare.

Since discovering cos lettuce I have rediscovered the joys of salads.

One of my faves is Caesar salad but no anchovies.

I love avocado, Spanish black olives (but not so much Kalamata olives - too much vinegar), fresh asparagus, gherkins/cornichons, beetroot, fresh tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, capsicum, steamed and cooled green beans, snow peas, fresh herbs, za'atar, hummus, feta cheese, any cheese varieties at all in fact, boiled egg, smoked ham, Thai beef salad, Greek salad, potato salad, coleslaw with a bit of cold chicken, nuts, olive oil, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar. The list goes on.

I hate those fiddly little sticks of raw carrot i.e. julienne. I have to pick them up and eat them with my fingers because trying to stick a fork into them is like trying to nail jelly to a wall.

My Mum used to put onion slices in a bowl with a bit of nice vinegar and let it marinate for a while before serving it. It takes away that repetitive bite from the raw onion.

My trick with the tasteless tomatoes, now that the fresh fruit & veg shop is closed near where I shop, is to sit them on a table with a bit of sun on them for a couple of days until the flavour develops a bit. Better still, grow your own but I'm a bit random with my gardening skills.

Sandwiches - slightly off topic.

My fave sandwich is chicken breast pieces, avocado, sundried tomatoes and asparagus on multigrain. It's the only time I eat tinned asparagus.

A go-to sandwich for me - I am hearing the yukky-yuks already from everyone - is peanut butter and cos lettuce. Seriously. Don't knock it if you haven't tried it. Think satay sauce on salad, e.g. Balinese Gado Gado salad.

But also, on the peanut butter sandwich theme, I also like it with tomato slices, or with banana slices. Not simultaneously, of course.