# What is a salad? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [June 19, 2026, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-salad/1031018 "2026-06-19T11:37:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-salad/1031018/1 "2026-06-19T11:37:52Z")
Okay, when we hear the word, salad, we automatically think of a dish served on plate or bowl with leafy greens and assorted veggies. but then we have these dishes using the word 'salad": potato salad bean salad macaroni salad jello salad waldorf salad none of them close to a leafy green then we have: egg salad tuna salad chicken salad all of them used as part of a sandwich so how did all these things become associated with the word ‘salad’, since they don’t really belong? ---
**Author:** ![nofloyd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nofloyd/32/2870_2.png) [@nofloyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nofloyd)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-salad/1031018/2 "2026-06-19T11:48:17Z")
Egg, tuna, and chicken salad are not alway served on a sandwich. Many diners serve it on a plate, with leafy greens, tomatoes, maybe cucumber, and olives, with a scoop of the protein salad in the middle. My own definition - salad - a chunky mixture of several ingredients, commonly vegetable, commonly served with a fat based dressing or binder, served cold. Blast, hot cabbage salads ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-salad/1031018/3 "2026-06-19T12:17:06Z")
A salad is a cold dish consisting primarily of raw vegetables. Not all examples of \ \ are examples of \. If we’re sitting around a table and I say “pass the salad”, and you pass the potato salad or the tuna salad, you haven’t given me what I asked for. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-salad/1031018/4 "2026-06-19T12:29:50Z")
I think the salads in the OP were named so just as shorthand for a (usually) cold dish that often combines vegetables or fruits, a protein or starch, etc. What else would you call them? Something like “potatoes with mayo dressing and pickles and eggs and herbs” or some such is just way too clumsy when there are so many variations. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-salad/1031018/5 "2026-06-19T13:10:01Z")
Some early press accounts: Chicken salad 1827 (called “Chicken Salad a la Provençale) Potato salad 1836 Egg salad 1873 Tuna salad 1908 Yeah, you started out with chopped up plant(ish) foods, then chopped up proteins served cold, then all sorts of other things served cold. I’ll add another “congealed salad” (1911). (And it appears that its ultimate origin referred to pickled/briny plant stuff, noted in the word ‘salad’ itself.) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-salad/1031018/6 "2026-06-19T13:29:44Z")
If you mix cooked or uncooked ingredients together and apply heat, it’s not a salad. If you mix cooked or uncooked ingredients together and _don’t_ apply heat, it’s a salad. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-salad/1031018/7 "2026-06-19T13:51:00Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > If you mix cooked or uncooked ingredients together and _don’t_ apply heat, it’s a salad. So I can tell my wife that I had a salad for lunch when I in fact had a Butterfingers Blizzard? Cool! mmm ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-salad/1031018/8 "2026-06-19T14:24:01Z")
Isn’t this one of those threads where the thread title and the OP aren’t asking the same thing? Thread title asks what is “ **a** salad.” OP asks what is “salad.” ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-salad/1031018/9 "2026-06-19T14:36:03Z")
It seems pretty clear to me that what connects green salads with egg, tuna, chicken, etc. salads, is that the ingredients are all mixed together with some form of dressing, mayo in the latter cases. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-salad/1031018/10 "2026-06-19T14:44:31Z")
[Watermelon Salad](https://www.allrecipes.com/most-saved-watermelon-recipe-11791123) is very good. I consider salad a cold dish of leafy vegetables and optionally pre-cooked proteins like boiled eggs, chicken or ham. Salads are traditionally associated with summer. A cold dish is appreciated after being outside in the heat. Salads avoid the need to heat up an already hot kitchen by cooking. Air conditioning has changed the need for cold dishes. But, they’re still popular. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-salad/1031018/11 "2026-06-19T14:58:39Z")
I’ve always understood it to be a mixture of small or cut-up ingredients that often have some kind of dressing or binder applied and distributed. So a hot potato salad, Panzanella, pasta salad, a cold seafood salad, a fruit salad, and a classical lettuce type salad all work. Hot/cold, vegetable/protein, etc… aren’t really important. I think a distinction is that it’s eaten by itself, not over rice/noodles/porridge, or as a condiment. So something like pico de gallo wouldn’t be a salad, but something like Mexican salpicon is. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-salad/1031018/12 "2026-06-19T17:47:23Z")
Beer is salad. You will not change my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-salad/1031018/13 "2026-06-19T18:21:47Z")
Once upon a time, there was a thing called molded salad. It was generally a jello salad, but savory, and full of chopped vegetables and meats. Apparently, they were popular, but now are nearly extinct. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-salad/1031018/14 "2026-06-19T18:55:10Z")
I think it matters at what time the salad is served thru out the whole meal, that makes it a “salad” course. Of course, that screws with the whole “salad” as meal business. I knew a family that ate salad last. Instead of dessert. I thought that was clever. Their kids hated it. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-salad/1031018/15 "2026-06-19T19:50:12Z")
A salad is a mixed collection of discrete items, which retain their individuality within the dish. So, you can pick out parts of a salad you don’t like. Dressing is optional If they’re all mixed together, and coalesce, then you are more into casserole territory. Although I guess, under my definition, a bowl of nuts is a salad. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-salad/1031018/16 "2026-06-19T20:06:52Z")
There’s some interesting history-of-salad stuff at [this blog post](https://www.folger.edu/blogs/shakespeare-and-beyond/cleopatras-salad-days/) from the Folger Shakespeare Library, including a (very pretty) modern take on an Elizabethan recipe. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-salad/1031018/17 "2026-06-19T20:34:39Z")
French fries, jalapeno slices, and catsup. Vegetable salad. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-salad/1031018/18 "2026-06-19T20:37:36Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > A salad is a mixed collection of discrete items, which retain their individuality within the dish. > > So, you can pick out parts of a salad you don’t like. - Doesn’t help with anchovies. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-salad/1031018/19 "2026-06-19T22:02:01Z")
I worked at many restaurants in the past, including some fancy ones. I remember hearing that eating the salad last helped aid digestion, so I looked it up. “Eating a salad last is a culinary tradition rooted in European dining customs, particularly in France and Italy. It is primarily done to cleanse the palate, aid digestion, and prevent over-filling prior to the main entrée.” ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-salad/1031018/20 "2026-06-19T23:14:43Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I knew a family that ate salad last. Instead of dessert. I thought that was clever. Their kids hated it. We’ve mostly adopted that custom in my house - even when everything is served at once, we usually eat the salad last. It’s nice to eat something light and fresh after the main course, and before dessert (if we have one). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-salad/1031018.md?page=2)