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The dish known as salad is said to date back to the ancient Roman habit of dipping romaine lettuce in salt — “herbe salata” means “salted leaves.”
Now, centuries after the concept originated in Ancient Rome, salads may conjure for some an image of a tub of lettuce with choose-your-own mix-ins from ubiquitous salad chains; for others, it’s a warm bowl of grains (like farro salad) or a salad devoid of lettuce altogether (like a macaroni or potato salad, or cole slaw). Salad is considered by some a cold, dressed and chopped side dish while others turn salads into a full meal by adding a variety of proteins.
In short, salads mean different things to different people; the key lies in fresh ingredients, texture, and a well-balanced dressing.
Any way it’s served, a salad can speak volumes about a place. From Greece to Mexico to Ethiopia to Japan, it’s not just about ingredients (veggies, herbs, leaves) or seasonings and dressings and textures — there’s often a backstory to the recipe that invokes time, place and availability of produce. Ask any chef and they’ll tell you that creating a salad is not for the faint of heart, which is likely why so many classic salads have endured for years, with little variation beyond minor inclusions or exclusions.
Here are some of the best from around the world.
Salads from around the world
Italian bread salad, or Panzanella, starts with leftovers: specifically day-old bread. At their beloved New York restaurant Via Carota, Italian chefs Jody Williams and Rita Sodi serve a best-selling, not-too-soggy Tuscan-style panzanella salad using aged sherry vinegar, which might be the key to its perfection. Their recipe calls for torn pieces of days-old country bread to get drenched in a briny sherry vinegar mixture, absorbing all the brine, and mixed with chopped spring onions, ripe tomato, cucumbers and celery, and tossed in olive oil and basil. The salad’s origins date back centuries as a cheap meal made by Tuscan peasants using leftovers and local produce.
Niçoise refers to a French style of cooking, specifically from the city of Nice, where acclaimed restaurateur and chef to royalty, Auguste Escoffier, perfected Salade Niçoise by adding potatoes and green beans to a combination of anchovies, Niçoise olives, capers, tuna, hard boiled eggs and cherry tomatoes on Boston lettuce. Julia Child deemed the Niçoise Salad one of her favorite summer meals and for good reason — it’s light yet hearty and packed with flavor.
To usher in a lucky Lunar New Year, Singaporeans and Malaysians toss together Yusheng (or yee sang), a sweet and tangy raw fish salad, known as a “prosperity toss” (or lo hei). Yu sheng can be translated as “raw fish” and also sounds like the Chinese phrase for an “increase in abundance,” making it a popular appetizer during the Chinese New Year and a ceremonial one at that. At a typical gathering, one by one, each ingredient is added to the dish on a platter, with the host sprinkling nuts, seeds, spices and dressing over the salad. Participants toss the ingredients — shredded vegetables like carrots, daikon radish, yams, cucumber and pickled ginger, along with raw fish — with chopsticks as high as possible while expressing good wishes for the new year.
Indian chef Asma Khan writes in her cookbook “Monsoon: Delicious Indian Recipes for Every Day and Season” that while a hot and sultry place, India doesn’t have a massive range of salads compared to Mediterranean cultures. They do, of course, eat fresh veggies with meals, and one particular salad Khan serves is a spiced citrus and vegetable dish, called Narangi salad, which is made with oranges, sliced red or green chiles, carrots, cabbage and cloves. It is dressed with a honey vinegar mixture that’s tangy, salty, sweet and fresh, with just the right amount of zing.
Israeli-American chef Michael Solomonov writes in his bestselling cookbook, “Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking,” that this Israeli salad has Arab origins, and it’s often known as Arabic Salad but it has a place on every table in Israel. Simply made with freshly chopped cucumber, tomato and parsley, the veggies are tossed in a bowl with olive oil, kosher salt, and lemon juice and served. In the Middle East, the refreshing ingredients are ubiquitous and because tomatoes and cucumbers are grown year-round, they’re cheap and widely available.
Chopped salad with jicama and pepitas (Mexico)
At his Brooklyn restaurant, Cruz del Sur, chef Hugo Orozco serves authentic Guadalajaran food, including an ever-popular Mexican chopped salad with jicama. Native to Mexico and often found in South American cuisine, jicama gives any salad a nice sweet crunch, and especially so in this chopped salad, loaded with Persian cucumbers, navel orange, pineapple, onions, cilantro and chiles, along with toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) and sliced avocado on top. What’s more, the salad’s avocado vinaigrette dressing is made with Tajín, a chile-lime salt, which is also sprinkled on the salad.
With just thinly-sliced, heavily dressed cucumber (in a mix of vinegar, water, sugar, white pepper and parsley), this Swedish pickled cucumber salad (Gammaldags Pressgurka) is a perfect accompaniment to Sweden’s famous meatballs and other heavy dishes like roast meat and seafood. Quickly pickled and heavily pressed (hence the name “pressgurka”) the cucumber-squeezing is part of the preparations for the salad. They’re sliced thin and pressed, extracting liquid, dressed in the sweet-and-sour mixture, and left to sit for a few hours before serving.
Bulgaria’s most famous salad, which is also popular throughout southeastern Europe, the crunchy and colorful Shopska salad is made with chopped ripe tomatoes, roasted peppers (usually green bell but sometimes red), cucumber (English or Persian), hot peppers (optional), onions (usually red), along with parsley and crumbly Sirene cheese (similar to feta). It’s topped with an olive oil vinaigrette and sometimes black olives. Named for the Shopluk region in western Bulgaria, the colors of the salad (red tomatoes and peppers, green cucumbers and white cheese) are said to represent the national flag. Famous Bulgarian chef Silvena Johan Lauta even included a recipe for Shopska salad in her book “The Food & Cooking of Romania & Bulgaria.”
Native to South and Central America, hearts of palm are a vegetable derived from the palm tree species and date back to Mayan civilizations. Extremely perishable, hearts of palms are often cut and canned for preservation, and are found in salads throughout Central America, particularly Argentina. Argentinian hearts of palm salad (ensalada de palmitos) is made with sliced canned hearts of palm, chopped tomatoes and sliced avocados, dressed in a lime juice mixture, and topped with scallion and cilantro. Simple to assemble and prepare, the salad is often served on a platter to accompany heavier beef and meat dishes.
To stay cool in steamy Myanmar, Burmese people rely on a salad made of tea leaves. Burmese for fermented tea, lak hpak or lephet, is smoky and bitter and mixed with fresh veggies, fried garlic, green chiles, crunchy roasted peanuts, fried beans, dried shrimp and toasted sesame seeds, served on a bed of cabbage and tossed with a fish sauce-and-lime juice dressing. Burmese chef Suu Khin notes the cultural significance of Laphet Thoke and how it is a centerpiece for life events big and small. Laphet Thoke is often served with hot green tea and because of the caffeine content from the tea leaves, this tends to be more of a daytime dish. At the California restaurant Burma Superstar, Laphet Thoke is a best-selling salad and appetizer, referred to as “a party in your mouth.”
When making Greek salad (Horiátiki salata), Greek-American chef Diane Kochilas implores Americans to refrain from using lettuce in her traditional recipe. A simple, refreshing dish known as a “village salad” in Greece, it features a variety of ripe tomatoes (teardrops, yellow teardrops, cherry), red onions, green peppers, crisp cucumbers, Kalamata olives, oregano, extra virgin olive oil (ideally Greek), salt and a wedge of feta cheese. Once known to be a peasant’s dish, according to one story, the addition of feta in the 1960s really put it on the proverbial map. Wildly popular, you can now find Greek salads on restaurant menus worldwide.
This summer Spanish salad is a refreshing mix of tomatoes, peppers, onions and cucumbers, tossed in a zesty vinaigrette. Pipirrana is light, fresh and bursting with flavors. In his book “Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America,” superstar chef José Andrés serves his Pipirrana Andaluza (named for Andalusia, the Spanish region where it originates) with tuna, but it’s a standout on its own. Simply made with tomato and cubed green pepper and cucumber and marinated with an olive oil/sherry vinegar mixture with a little salt and black peppercorn, it soaks until it’s ready to serve. It’s an especially refreshing salad in the summertime and similar to gazpacho.
Called Som Tum in Thailand, this crunchy, sour Thai salad with papaya originated in Laos but is hugely popular and served year round (and often consumed weekly, if not daily) all over Southeast Asia. In Thailand (particularly the Isan region), it’s commonly found at street stalls, restaurants and in homes. To make the salad, garlic, salt, peanuts, chilies, sugar and shrimp are pounded into a paste and mixed with lime juice and fish sauce, then used to toss over shredded green papaya, tomatoes and long beans, and then sprinkled with peanuts.
Like with many great inventions, the Cobb salad was born out of necessity. According to local lore surrounding 1930s Los Angeles, Robert Cobb, the owner of the Angeleno restaurant, Brown Derby, assembled the protein-heavy salad using ingredients found in his fridge: lettuce, watercress, hard-boiled eggs, crisp bacon, roasted chicken, avocado, tomatoes, chives and blue cheese, chopped and topped with the Derby’s house-made French dressing. It became an instant classic at the Hollywood restaurant and was often prepared for guests tableside until the restaurant closed in the 1980s.
Tabbouleh and Tabouli are one and the same and the recipe revolves around one main ingredient: parsley. Commonly made with bulgur wheat, parsley, tomatoes, mint and onions, and tossed with a dressing made of lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper, tabbouleh may differ depending on who’s preparing it. Some may add cucumber and others may add pomegranate juice or sour grape juice to give some bright acidity to the tangy salad. Chef Yotam Ottolenghi says there’s a right way to make tabbouleh salad and it’s with bulgur (never couscous). Leaning into the parsley, which is the main ingredient, the chef also stresses that it should be chopped finely, without the use of a food processor.
Thinly sliced cucumbers dressed in sweet and sour vinegar, Sunomono, or Japanese cucumber salad, is a typical starter or side dish found in Japanese restaurants worldwide. Also known as “vinegar salad,” the name comes from the Japanese words “su” meaning vinegar, and “mono” meaning thing. Vinegar is said to stimulate appetites and with only a few ingredients (Japanese cucumbers, sugar, salt, soy sauce and rice vinegar, plus sesame seeds to sprinkle on top), this is quick and easy to make, and cucumber is relatively inexpensive and easy to find. What’s more, it complements almost any kind of dish and balances out some of the heavier ones, like tempura.
Traditional German potato salad from the Swabian region uses a vinaigrette, usually made with broth (beef or vegetable), oil, vinegar and mustard; the main distinction being a clear lack of mayonnaise, like most other potato salads worldwide, and without the addition of bacon bits. In Germany, the dish, known as Schwäbischer Kartoffelsalat, is served at restaurants and found in grocery stores and homes. It starts with waxy potatoes (which have a higher water content and can hold flavor better than starchier ones) and ends with a chive garnish.
You’ll find Gado-gado across Indonesia where it’s prepared based on geographic location so ingredients can vary. The New York Times notes that in the capital, Jakarta, Gado-gado tends to be carb-heavy, with both potatoes and lontong (rice cakes), while in West Java, lotek atah or karedok tends to lean heavier on raw vegetables. For the most part, it involves a smattering of fresh vegetables (raw and/or steamed), hard boiled eggs, fried tofu or tempeh, and is served with a peanut sauce dressing (some use fresh peanuts, other recipes call for peanut butter). Gado-gado (meaning “mix mix”) is so beloved in Indonesia that the sweet-salty-sour salad has been recognized as a national dish.
Similar to an Israeli salad (which calls for parsley, not mint, as is the case here), Shirazi salad or Salad-e Shirazi, is a Persian dish made with tomatoes, Persian cucumber and onion, and served with many meals in homes across Iran. Named for the city in southern Iran, the bright, acidic salad is meant to complement the rice, rich stews and kebabs it’s often served with. What sets it apart is the addition of verjuice (a sour juice made from unripe grapes and/or crabapples) rather than lemon juice, which is perfectly fine, too.
Russian potato salad, called Olivye or salad Olivier, is a staple in Russian and Ukrainian homes. It also has significance for the New Year and is popular at family events, special occasions and festive gatherings year-round. Yes, it’s a loaded potato salad (named for its creator, Russian chef Lucien Olivier) and seems simple, but variations on add-ons like veggies (carrots, peas and sweet pickles), eggs and ham (or chicken, or even bologna) — plus mayo — give this dish an unexpected twist, depending on who’s making it. The salad dates back to the 1860s when chef Olivier was working at the Hermitage Restaurant in Moscow, where it later became the eatery’s signature dish.
Oscar Tschirky, the legendary Swiss chef at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, originally developed this recipe for the Waldorf Salad using just three ingredients: apples, celery and mayonnaise. The New York Times recipe adds a splash of lemon, but other than that, stays true to the original recipe, first published in 1896, and credited to “Oscar of the Waldorf.” That original recipe called for two peeled raw apples, cut into small pieces, mixed with chopped celery, and dressed with a “good mayonnaise.” At once tangy, crunchy, creamy, sweet and sour, the salad has evolved slightly to include walnuts (added in the 1920s), and later, raisins and grapes, and even marshmallows and eggs.
Now a staple of American restaurants, Caesar salad’s origins in Tijuana, Mexico, can easily be forgotten. Just over 100 years ago, Italian transplant chef Cesar Cardini assembled the “Ensalada Cesar” at the Hotel Caesars. The restaurant’s present-day chef and proprietor, Javier Plascencia, told the Los Angeles Times that 2,500 salads a month are prepared tableside at the Hotel Caesars. And not much has changed in the traditional preparation, made in a large wooden bowl with mixing paddles. The dressing is the foundation of the salad and starts with anchovy paste, Dijon mustard, garlic, lime juice, black pepper and shavings of Parmesan cheese, which are folded in; then an egg yolk to emulsify, and some Worcestershire sauce and olive oil. Sprinkled with more Parmesan and served with croutons, the salad’s greens must be properly coated (in the traditional Mexican style).
Timatim (Amharic for “tomato”) Salata or tomato salad may seem simple, but the Ethiopian spice berbere gives it a unique twist. The warm umami spice blend (heavy on coriander and paprika) isn’t super hot — but gives the tangy tomato salad a lot of depth. It’s simply made with diced tomatoes, finely diced onions, garlic and jalapeño and a dressing made with lemon or lime juice, olive oil, berbere spice and salt. Timatim is typically served as a side dish or accompaniment to injera, Ethiopia’s famous spongy sourdough flatbread.
Like many simple salads, Kachumbari (the Swahili name for fresh tomato and onion salad) is a summer standby in East African countries, particularly in Kenya and Tanzania. It’s almost like a garnish or a salsa in its simplicity (just finely diced tomatoes and onion with chili peppers, salt, cilantro and lemon juice) and is served with many dishes, the same way that cole slaw in America is a side dish that accompanies many meals. The longer it sits in its marinade, the better it tastes, so it’s no wonder rich meat and game dishes or heavier rice dishes are often accompanied with Kachumbari.
