Salad

A salad is a dish made from a mix of ingredients, most often vegetables. It is usually served cold or at room temperature, though warm versions exist. Dressings—savory sauces in many flavors—are commonly added. The most familiar type is the garden salad, built on raw leafy greens like lettuce, arugula, kale, or spinach; the word "salad" alone often implies this kind. Other varieties include caprese, bean, tuna, and bread salads (such as fattoush and panzanella), as well as vegetable salads without greens (like Greek salad, potato salad, and coleslaw), rice-, pasta-, and noodle-based salads, fruit salads, and dessert salads.

Salads can appear at any point in a meal. Appetizer salads are light, small portions served first. Side salads, such as potato salad or coleslaw, accompany the main course. Main course salads typically include a protein-rich ingredient like eggs, legumes, or cheese. Dessert salads are sweet, made with fruit, gelatin, sweeteners, or whipped cream. Sauces used to flavor salads are called dressings, most of which are either oil-and-vinegar mixtures or creamy dairy-based ones.

The word "salad" entered English in the 14th century as "salad" or "sallet," from the French *salade*, itself a shortened form of the Vulgar Latin *herba salata* (salted herb), from Latin *salata* (salted), from *sal* (salt)—a reference to Roman-era vegetables seasoned with brine or salty oil-and-vinegar dressings. The phrase "salad days," meaning a time of youthful inexperience, first appears in Shakespeare in 1606. "Salad bar," referring to a buffet-style setup of salad ingredients, entered American English in 1937.

Ancient Greeks and Romans ate mixed greens with dressing. Layered and dressed salads have been popular in Europe since the Greek and Roman expansions. In 1699, John Evelyn wrote *Acetaria: A Discourse of Sallets*, often considered the first book on salads, but failed to persuade his fellow Britons to eat fresh greens. Mary, Queen of Scots, ate boiled celery root over greens with creamy mustard dressing, truffles, chervil, and sliced hard-boiled eggs. Oil for salads was used in ancient Greece and Rome, and in the 17th-century colony of New Netherland (later New York, New Jersey, and Delaware). A cargo appraisal from that time lists "a can of salad oil at 1.10 florins" and "an anker of wine vinegar at 16 florins." A 1665 letter from Curaçao to the Director of New Netherland requests seeds for cabbage, carrots, lettuce, and parsley, noting none could be obtained locally. Salads are sold in supermarkets, restaurants, and fast food chains. In the U.S., restaurants may offer a salad bar where customers assemble their own. Salad-focused restaurants earned over $300 million in 2014. At-home salad consumption rose in the 2010s, shifting from fresh-chopped lettuce to bagged greens and salad kits, with bag sales expected to reach $7 billion annually.

Salads can be composed (ingredients arranged on the dish) or tossed (mixed in a bowl with dressing). An antipasto plate, the first course of a formal Italian meal, resembles a composed salad and includes vegetables, cheese, and meat. A green salad, or garden salad, is mostly leafy greens like lettuce, spinach, or arugula; if non-greens dominate, it may be called a vegetable salad. Common raw vegetables include cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, onions, carrots, celery, radishes, mushrooms, avocado, olives, artichoke hearts, heart of palm, watercress, parsley, fennel, beets, and green beans. Nuts, berries, seeds, lentils, and flowers are less common. Hard-boiled eggs, bacon, shrimp, and cheese may garnish, but large amounts of animal foods are more typical in dinner salads. A wedge salad is a green salad made from a halved or quartered head of lettuce (often iceberg) with toppings.

Bound salads are held together by thick sauces like mayonnaise; a scoop holds its shape on a plate. Examples include tuna, chicken, egg, and potato salads, coleslaw, and some pasta salads like macaroni salad. Some are used as sandwich fillings. They are popular at picnics, potlucks, and barbecues. Dinner salads (or entrée salads in the U.S.) may contain small pieces of poultry, seafood, or steak. Examples include Caesar, chef, Cobb, Chinese chicken, Michigan, and Pittsburgh salads. A wide range of cheeses appear in dinner salads, such as Roquefort blue cheese (traditional for Cobb) and Swiss (for chef and Cobb). Fruit salads are made from fresh or canned fruit; fruit cocktail is one example.