Here in California it is typical that we eat our salad before the main part of the dinner. It is used to give fresh vegetables that many people don’t choose to eat otherwise, and it also gives you more time at the table for discussions and such. My mom would do composed salads and some that were highly decorated but I am a tossed salad kind of girl. Lettuces, and other stuff such as napa cabbage in it for crunch, then wedged tomatoes, rings of bell peppers, slices of green onions, etc, and it went pretty much with anything. When you walked away from the dinner table you got nutrition in first no matter what else was part of the dinner. My husband liked to add his smoked deviled eggs to it for a cool summer meal that got us through the summer heat (people with air conditioning probably can’t relate).
I haven’t read the whole thread-has anyone mentioned “jello salad” yet? Jello, maybe layered, often with fruit chunks or little marshmallows, sometimes with Cool Wip on top. Can be eaten with the main course or for dessert. It’s a midwestern thing, beloved by kids, but fine dining it is not. But it does meet the “mixtures with whole pieces of things in it” definition. Barely.