Salad Solidarity

September 4, 2023 11:20 PM

Across the course of the modern foodscape, there have been countless labor strikes at all levels of the food industry particularly with the hard working men and women harvesting crops from the fields. Big California examples include the Delano Grape Picker Strike and the largest farm worker strike in US history - The Salad Bowl Strike. In the spirit of Salad for Lettuce Boycotters, how about some salads without lettuce. We'll come back to the world of "salads" later when we look at things like Snicker Salad Again, as with all things culinarily inclined, this list is short sighted, full of gaps, holes, glaring errors and misconceptions, etc. Feel free to toss your ideas to cover the bare spots! (And yes, cabbage and spinach are lettuce adjacent, but....)

• 3 Bean Salad - green bean, kidney bean, garbanzo bean
• Beet Salad (a historical receipe)
• Caprese Salad - basil, tomato, mozzarella
• Ceviche - seafood salad(?)
• Cucumber Salad (African - Kachumbari; German - Gurkensalat; Indian - Kachumber; Japanese - Sunomono; Palestine/Israel - Salata na’ameh/Salat aravi/Israeli Salad)
• Larb - toasted rice powder, ground pork, lime, fish sauce, mint, culantro
• Maltouf Cabbage Salad - cabbage, lemon, olive oil, garlic, mint
• Mechouia - grilled peppers and tomatoes
• Olive Salad - olives, carrots, celery, onion
• Panzanella - Tomatoes, bread
• Raheb - grilled eggplant, tomato, cucumber, pepper, onion
• Rosolli - beets, potatoes, carrot, apple, pickles
• Olivier Salad - potato, carrot, peas, ham, pickles
• Omek Houria - Tunisian spicy carrot salad
• Papaya Salad (Laotion) - Chiles, Green Papaya, Tamrind
• Shepherd's Salad - tomato, pepper, egg, ham
• Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing - the classic "fancy" salad of the American 70's/80's
• Tabouleh - parsley, tomato, bulgur
• Wurstsalat - sausage salad

And while the Caesar Salad isn't named for that Cesar, it feels wrong to not have one of the world's most uniquitous salads (even if it uses the Man's lettuce)!

(And despite the song - you can win friends with salad!)

(More guidance to Union made food)

posted by drewbage1847 (13 comments total)

jessamyn carrot salad, not even from one of the many many AskMes tagged with salad (or salads).

Oh, and don't forget fruit salad!

I have been eating tons of romaine lately, but I do love a lettuceless salad.

Thanks for this fab post, drewbage1847!
posted by kristi at 11:38 PM on September 4, 2023 [2 favorites]

Waldorf salad: Grapes, Celery, Apple, Walnuts, Mayonnaise (the linked recipe has lettuce but I never add lettuce to a Waldorf salad).
posted by BigCalm at 1:35 AM on September 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

I always mention this in AskMe's that have to do with salads, so: The Moosewood Daily Special. I picked that up several years ago and it has been one of my most-used cookbooks; it's just soup and salad recipes, and started a salad-batch-cooking habit that is still one of my go-to weekend habits, as I prepare for the coming week ahead. Part of my daily get-ready-for-work routine involves packing a bag lunch, and with a couple salads already in the fridge, packing is simply a matter of throwing a handful of lettuce on the bottom of one well of my bento box (or sometimes not even that), throwing a couple serving-spoonfuls of one of the salads on top, and closing that well of the bento and rounding things out with crackers or grapes or a slice of cake or something.

I've also expanded to include the salad recipes from Rancho Gordo now since I get so many beans from them.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:36 AM on September 5, 2023 [3 favorites]

Chop some cucumbers, then sprinkle with Trader Joe's Everything But The Bagel, some Tajin, and salt. Add white wine vinegar and sesame oil.

Raw beets, julienned, are also nice in salads. Crunchy and sweet.
posted by novalis_dt at 3:48 AM on September 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

Great post-- thank you !
posted by Sparky Buttons at 5:39 AM on September 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

Dandelion Salad! Dandelion leaves + whatever else you like in a salad. You can easily sub in dandelion for any other bitter greens, and I hear salt will balance the bitterness better than sweet.


Here are some tips on harvesting & cleaning them!
I'm not brave enough to try this until I set aside a "do not stomp all over these with your gross shoes" area. For my own peace of mind.
posted by Baethan at 5:50 AM on September 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

Yesterday for lunch I made a salad out of an avocado and a generous handful of raspberries. Dressing was whole cream, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Chili would have been good, but our chili is really hot and I wasn't up to it at the moment.
It was delicious, and it was also a fiber BOMB, if you are into that sort of thing.
posted by mumimor at 7:23 AM on September 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

Surely we mean "Saladarity".
posted by Frowner at 7:25 AM on September 5, 2023 [7 favorites]

pico de gallo - tomatoes, garlic, onion, cilantro, maybe peppers/jicima/peaches/mango - that's a salad.

deconstructed sushi salad - cucumbers, avocado, green onions, bell pepper, a bit of rice, maybe some ginger.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:44 AM on September 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

I just ate Balela for lunch. Chickpeas, olives, tomatoes, and herbs. Discovered this a few weeks ago and I've been enjoying it at least once a week. I did take the time to find sumac for the dressing, but skip the Aleppo pepper and just use red pepper flakes.
posted by td2x10e3 at 10:20 AM on September 5, 2023 [3 favorites]

Going by The Cube Rule, the distinguishing characteristic of a salad is that it is not delimited by bread. Lots of non-lettuce options by that definition!

soup
(a wet salad)
posted by Baethan at 10:33 AM on September 5, 2023

My recent favorite supper salad lately has been Cold Thai Noodle Salad. Yummy and fast. Make sure to slice the cucumbers thinly!
posted by taz at 3:08 PM on September 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

I first learned about "Olivier Salad" in an unusual way. On YouTube, Refika's Kitchen from Turkey has a video about Kumpir, a popular baked potato street food in Turkey. It's a lot like what in America we might just call a "loaded baked potato" but with some unusual toppings. Anyway, one of the toppings she describes as "In Turkey we have this thing called American Salad - that Americans have never heard of." It's Olivier Salad, in essence, and they used to call it Russian Salad until sometime during the Cold War. So now every now and then I make baked potatoes and top with a mix of cooked diced carrots, peas, scallions or shallots, cucumbers or pickles, maybe pancetta, stirred up in mayonnaise with some fresh herbs. It's quite tasty and different from the standard "baked potato with sour cream and butter" that I used to default to.
posted by dnash at 4:58 PM on September 5, 2023 [2 favorites]