What is it about a salad that has made it an essential food? Usually composed of room temperature greens bound together with a dressing, they have been a desirable food for centuries. Originally assembled from wild plants gathered from hillsides, they weren't considered particularly nutritional in ancient times but they always provided a contrast in texture, taste and heat (or lack of it) to the main meal. Over time, salads morphed into a highly valued separate dish across the world. They were dressed up with olive oil, vinegar or lemon juice. They began to develop distinctive features such as local ingredients and salad bowls. They were given their own place in a meal, sometimes before the main meal, sometimes as the entire meal, and sometimes as a last course. Some salads were even given their very own names.
From vegetable garnish to grande sallets, this is an appetizing history of salads. It is a book about changing attitudes and evolving lifestyles, as raw greens and fresh vegetables have become more highly valued as healthy eating choices. It is truly global in scope, describing the development of salad recipes across Europe, the Americas and Asia, and is essential reading for food historians and food lovers everywhere.
Light, healthy, and easily tossed together, salads have been an herbaceous staple for as long as we have eaten food. Sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet--ladled over with buttermilk dressings or gently dressed in oil and vinegar--they come in an astonishing variety of forms and feature as both side and main dishes in a range of regional cuisines. In this book, Judith Weinraub celebrates the leafy life of the salad, traveling from Europe to the Americas and on to Asia to explore the crisp and nutritious delights they offer all around the world.
As Weinraub shows, salads started as a simple assemblage of wild plants gathered from the hillsides, a necessary source of calories and a pleasant contrast to the gamey meats that usually comprised a meal. It was only in later centuries that their nutritional value became known, and they assumed their place as the quintessential health food. Over that time, we learned to lavish them with oils, vinegars, juices, creams, cheeses, seeds, nuts, fruits, and proteins, and we learned to give them special names: chef, cobb, and caesar, not to mention niçoise, panzanella, and tabbouleh. Appetizingly written and freshly illustrated, this book will make a perfect accompaniment to any meal--or a main course in itself.
