Salad
A dish of mixed ingredients, often vegetables, served with dressing.
A salad is a dish consisting of mixed ingredients, frequently vegetables, typically served chilled or at room temperature, though some can be served warm. Condiments called salad dressings, which exist in a variety of flavors (generally savory), are usually used to make a salad. Garden salads have a base of raw leafy greens such as lettuce, arugula, kale or spinach; they are common enough that the word salad alone often refers specifically to garden salads. Other types include caprese salad, bean salad, tuna salad, bread salads, vegetable salads without leafy greens, rice-, pasta- and noodle-based salads, fruit salads and dessert salads.
- Etymology origin
- Latin salata (salted), from sal (salt)
- First English use
- 14th century as 'salad' or 'sallet'
- Common base
- Raw leafy greens (lettuce, arugula, kale, spinach)
Lore & Background
The word 'salad' comes to English first as 'salad' or 'sallet' in the 14th century, derived from the French salade, itself an abbreviated form of the earlier Vulgar Latin herba salata (salted herb), from the Latin salata (salted), from sal (salt) because vegetables were seasoned with brine or salty oil-and-vinegar dressings during Roman times. Ancient Greeks and Romans ate mixed greens with dressing, a type of mixed salad. Salads have been popular in Europe since the Greek and Roman imperial expansions. Mary, Queen of Scots, ate boiled celery root over greens covered with creamy mustard dressing, truffles, chervil, and slices of hard-boiled eggs.
Reader's Guide
Salads are a versatile dish category that can be served at any point during a meal: as appetizer salads (light, smaller-portion salads served as the first course), side salads (to accompany the main course, such as potato salad and coleslaw), main course salads (usually containing high-protein foods like eggs, legumes, or cheese), and dessert salads (sweet salads containing fruit, gelatin, sweeteners or whipped cream). A salad can be a composed salad (with ingredients specifically arranged on the serving dish) or a tossed salad (with ingredients placed in a bowl and mixed, often with salad dressing). Bound salads are assembled with thick sauces such as mayonnaise and include tuna salad, chicken salad, egg salad, coleslaw, and potato salad. Dinner salads may contain small pieces of poultry, seafood, or steak, with examples including Caesar salad, chef salad, Cobb salad, Chinese chicken salad, Michigan salad, and Pittsburgh salad. Salads may be sold in supermarkets, at restaurants and at fast food chains. In the United States, restaurants may have a salad bar with salad-making ingredients. At-home salad consumption in the 2010s was rising but moving away from fresh-chopped lettuce and toward bagged greens and salad kits.
Did You Know?
- The word 'salad' comes from the Latin salata, meaning 'salted', because vegetables were seasoned with brine or salty oil-and-vinegar dressings during Roman times.
- Mary, Queen of Scots, ate boiled celery root over greens covered with creamy mustard dressing, truffles, chervil, and slices of hard-boiled eggs.
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