Toss My Salad, for Cryin' Out Loud!

Cafe Society
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Okay, I understand what was behind the whole “salad dressing on the side” deal in salads, either grab ‘n’ go, or not. That was done so people could control the amount of dressing they put on their salads, because dressing can add a lot of calories. So it makes sense to put the dressing in little buckets on the side. Even though everyone I’ve ever seen eating salads just takes the whole little bucket and just dumps it on the salad. Kinda defeats the purpose, but still, there’s a purpose. Plus the salad doesn’t get soggy.

But what’s up with this new, unfortunate trend in salads that I’ve been seeing lately? If you order a salad with, say, spinach, green onions, shredded carrots, bleu cheese crumbles, chopped eggs, candied walnuts, and mushrooms, all the fixin’s are piled up in their own little sections, sitting on top of a wad of spinach leaves.

So now, I have to take the teeny tiny spoon and fork provided, and toss the salad myself at my work desk. The chunks of food bounce around, out of the carton, onto the desk, onto my files, onto my clothes. If I retrieve the bits, I’ll have a spinach salad with onions, carrots, mushrooms, bleu cheese, eggs, walnuts, paper clips, post it notes, and hair.

Who is this catering to? Method eaters who can’t stand to eat mixed up food?

Toss my salad before you give it to me. What do I pay you people for anyway?

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I think it’s supposed to look fancier. I don’t think it works, but I think that’s what it’s supposed to do.

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Maybe it’s intended to save labor and increase profit. Time not spent in tossing a salad can mean more containers of spinach can be prepared in a shorter period of time, meaning more sold and more profit for the restaurant.

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Back in the day when I worked food service, the reason given to me was so that the customer could easily see all things that were in the salad, both so they wouldn’t complain that they were shorted on any items and so they could see anything they didn’t want. Also makes it easier if you want one type of salad sans 1 thing. You can buy it, scoop the olives out and eat the rest of it. Harder to de-olive an already tossed salad.

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It also bugs me. It would work if they’d give me a GIANT bowl along with this mise en place so I can toss the sucker without half of it winding up on the table/floor/my lap.

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As a very general reason it’s just different. Which translates to new and improved for many people. I suppose getting to see all the extra stuff might make some people happier, and the picky eaters have an easier time skipping the things they don’t like. But I’d still go with it starting as a way to make the provider look different from everyone else, and that usually leads to everyone else doing the same thing so they can be different too. When I was teenager we all start wearing jeans and tee shirts to show that we were non-conformists. People just love to be different all in the same way.

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But we’ve only just met…

Here’s my sad salad story. Just the other day, I bought a Taco Salad from Wendy’s. The picture didn’t look all that appetizing, but hey, try anything once.

What I got was: (1) A regular green salad. (2) A bowl of Wendy’s chili. (3) A small package of tortilla chips. (4) A tube of sour cream. (5) A tub of (really disgusting and cold) salsa. Yep, I was expected to assemble it myself. :smack: It made an awful mess and tasted horrible, mostly due to the really disgusting and cold salsa.

So yeah, I agree, when I order fast food I demand to have it already put together and ready to eat, thank you very much! Unless it’s a McDLT, but those haven’t existed for decades.

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Jelly or syrup?

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Some disassembly required.

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I imagine it’s easier to err on the side of caution that your customer is a persnickety OCD freak who doesn’t like different ingredients from touching.

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There’s a two dollar surcharge for entropy.

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It’s a plot by Big Food to discourage you from ordering a Healthy Salad and drive you towards double bacon cheeseburgers and French fries.

I love a good Cobb salad (chicken, bacon, hard-boiled egg, blue cheese, avocado, tomato, onion, vinaigrette, and Romaine, so yeah, totally Unhealthy) in a restaurant but I hate it when they come untossed.

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You owe me a laptop.

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The salad should also be presented piled high on a small plate that does not allow room for you to mix it with your fork or gently fold it over, until you have carefully picked the mound apart from the top down. It will just fall off the plate and onto the table.

Once you have eaten your way through the bitter arugula and the seeds have all fallen to the bottom of the plate, then you will have room to stir the remaining ingredients together, add a little dressing, and enjoy the last few bites.

You may even get the premium dining experience where they serve your dinner entrée about two minutes after serving the salad, and your table is too small to fit all the plates.

“Are you finished with the salad?” Why, yes, I guess I am.

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Do you have a place at work where you can keep a big bowl or a lunchbox? And proper cutlery?

Another method I’ve used is to dump all the stuff out in the provided bowl, replace the lid and shake. Harder when it’s a peel-off lid.

I’ve been counting calories of late, and “dressing on the side” is VITAL. I only add a teaspoonful at a time, and only as needed.

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And the unmixed part goes into future salads. :smiley:

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I’m sure they do it that way to give the appearance of more actual food. When the chicken and cheese are in a pile on top it looks bigger than if it’s mixed in and hiding under lettuce.
Also it does save time and possibly extend freshness. If you don’t toss stuff together with the lettuce it may be viable several hours longer.

I’m the one who likes it this way. I enjoy deciding what I want in each bite. I also like being able to eat all the mix-in bits but avoid half the lettuce since it might give me the burps. I guess I’m the only one who dips each forkful in the dressing cup too. Again, that makes it stay fresher longer in case I want to wait and finish it later.

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I mean, fair’s fair.

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I get pissed if I order a Caesar Salad and it’s not tossed. Tossing is part of the recipe. It’s not a Caesar Salad if it is not tossed; it’s something else.

And tossing it myself in a tiny bowl just doesn’t work right. Why do you advertise a Caesar Salad if you aren’t serving a Caesar Salad?

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It’s 2016, it’s a caesar salad if it’s got caesar dressing on it, same as the last decade or two. Just consider it a lucky bonus if it’s got the right kind of lettuce instead of iceberg, the right kind of cheese, etc.