A quick look on Google and Wikipedia and such suggests that the original definition was only vegetables with a sort of dressing, but the term expanded to include other concoctions with the dressing, called “bound salads.”
So a key part of those other types of salads seems to be the dressing. The other parts are already mentioned discrete ingredients, mixed together cold.
And, yeah, language is interesting. I can actually say that these are all salads, but then also say that the term “salad” without qualifiers would never refer to most of these.
And all such concepts are blurry on the edges, both in these variant salads and the unqualified salad. It’s just the nature of language that a platonic definition, with characteristics that cover all possible variations, will never suffice. There’s always an aspect of “does it really ‘feel’ like a salad?”
Whatever definitions anyone comes up with, I can always think of exceptions. A salad has to be cold? My Mom used to make the most wonderful potato salad, and my favourite version of it was when it was just freshly made and still warm. But that was definitely a salad!
Or how about one of my occasional quirky likes for herring with sour cream? Cold, check. Comes in a vinegary wine sauce with onions, so multiple ingredients, check. Sour cream could be considered a kind of dressing. But it’s definitely not a salad!
My definition: you’ll know a salad when you see it!
Which screws up the definition of a salad as “something cold that you have before dinner, but which isn’t actually dinner”. To make the lexicological situation even worse, if you add some nice pieces of sliced chicken breast to a Caesar salad, then it may very well be your entire dinner!
Usually, a potato salad is supposed to be refrigerated before being served, and isn’t supposed to be eaten warm. You might have liked it warm, but that’s a quirk on your part that doesn’t change the definition of the dish.
I could take a regular garden salad and throw it in a microwave before eating it. It doesn’t mean it’s not a salad anymore, but it does mean I’m a weirdo.
(Just to be clear, I do not do that.)
Also, I feel the need to insert an entry from one of my favorite web comics back in the day:
Spinach is special. No, really. Something different happens to it when it gets warm. It doesn’t wilt the same way as other leafy vegetables.
I like it cold and cooked. And spinach dip can be amazing.
Ooh… Cabbage can also be good cooked, though. Especially in egg rolls. So I guess it’s like spinach in that way.
Also, on the subject of cabbage and in the spirit of this thread… Is coleslaw a salad? It seems like it has all of the traits of a salad, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it referred to as salad. Though when I look it up, the name “coleslaw” comes from the Dutch term koolsla that literally means “cabbage salad”. So weird that I rarely hear it called that.
It might actually be a quirk of the ingredients. This potato salad was very good and could certainly be refrigerated and still very good cold, but it had virtually no shelf life. It absolutely had to be fresh. Same day, sure, but next day was pushing it and it wasn’t quite the same. Third day, fuggetaboutit!
The problem with defining what a salad is, it’s something different to each person depending on what their experience of “salad” is. It may be narrow or it may be expansive. A person who travels will have lots more definitions of “salad” than someone who never ventures further than the church picnic.
Pasta salad, cabbage salad, spinach salad (also can be served with a hot bacon dressing to wilt the spinach). Corn salad with beans and tomatoes. Is bruschetta a salad? It can be. Or it can be an appetizer. Creamy salads, lemony salads, vinegary salads. The list goes on and on.
I don’t think “salad” can be constrained to just a few different terms to define it.
or you haven’t asked for exactly what you wanted. You weren’t specific enough, so you were passed something that complied with the words of your request, but not its personal intent
was this an AI inquiry? Because it makes absolutely no sense. If eaten last, then how would it prevent over-filling prior to the entree? Whether eaten first or last, in either case, you are eating the same amount of food.
Salad is what I eat when I’m waiting for the main part of my meal. At least when I’m dining out. Having said that, I’ve been known to have a pork rib for dessert.
So if I get served a mixed collection of discrete items of bacon and lettuce and tomato along with two croutons I could pick out, that’s a salad, right? And if I get served a mixed collection of discrete items of bacon and lettuce and tomato along with two pieces of toasted bread I could likewise pick out, is that also a salad?
My late MIL used to make “salads” that were jello, cottage cheese, and whatever canned fruit matched the jello flavor. Sometimes it also included cool whip. Her “pistachio salad” was pistachio instant pudding, cool whip, pineapple bits, and mini marshmallows. yeah, salad. Well, it was green. And it was served as a side, not as dessert.
