why do we call it salad

What is salad?
Food historians tell us salads (generally defined as mixed greens with dressing) were enjoyed by ancient Romans and Greeks. As time progressed, salads became more complicated. Recipes varied according to place and time. Dinner salads, as we know them today, were popular with Renaissance folks. Composed salads assembled with layers of ingredients were enjoyed in the 18th century. They were called Salmagundi. Today they are called chef's salad.

Why do we call it salad?
The basis for the word salad is 'sal', meaning salt. This was chosen because in ancient times, salt was often an ingredient in the dressing. Notes here:
"Salad, a term derived from the Latin sal (salt), which yielded the form salata, 'salted things' such as the raw vegetables eaen in classical times with a dressing of oil, vinegar or salt. The word turns up in Old French as salade and then in late 14th century English as salad or sallet."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford Univeristy Press:Oxford] 2nd edition, 2006 (p. 682)

"Etymologically, the key ingredient of salad, and the reason for its getting its name, is the dressing. The Romans were enthusiastic eaters of salads, many of their differing hardly at all from present-day ones--a simple selection of raw vegetables...--and they always used a dressing of some sort: oil, vinegar, and often brine. And hence the name salad, which comes from Vulgar Latin Herba salata, literally 'salted herb'."
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 294)

Etymological notes & historic uses, Oxford English Dictionary:
"Salad
[a. OF. salade (14th c.), a. Pr. salada = OIt. salata, Pg. salada (cf. It. insalata, Sp. ensalada): ta, f. *sal and cf. quot. 1687 s.v. SALADING. c1390 Forme of Cury (1780) 41 Salat. Take persel, sawge, garlec [etc.]..waische hem clene..and myng hem wel with rawe oile, lay on vyneger and salt, and serue it forth."

"Although the ancient Greeks and Romans did not use the world "salad," they enjoyed a variety of dishes with raw vegetables dressed with vinegar, oil, and herbs...The medical practitioners Hippocrates and Galen belived that raw vegetables easily slipped through the system and did not create obstructions for what followed, therefore they should be served first. Others reported that the vinegar in the dressing destroyed the taste of the wine, therefore they should be served last. This debate has continued ever since...With the fall of Rome, salads were less important in western Europe, although raw vegetables and fruit were eaten on fast days and as medicinal correctives...The term salade derived from the Vulgar Roman herba salata, literally 'salted herb'. It remained a feature of Byzantine cookery and reentered the European menu via medieval Spain and Renaissance Italy. At first "salad" referred to various kinds of greens pickled in vinegar or salt. The word salade later referred to fresh-cooked greens of raw vegetables prepared in the Roman manner."
---Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, Solomon H. Katz, editor and William Woys Weaver, associate editor [Charles Scribner's Sons:New York] 2003, Volume 3 (p. 224-5)

[NOTE: This book contains far more information than can be paraphrased here. Ask your librarian to help you find a copy.]

At the tail end of the 19th century (in the United States) the domestic science/home economics movement took hold. Proponnents of this new science were obsessed with control. They considered tossed plates of mixed greens "messy" and eschewed them in favor of "orderly presentations." Salad items were painstakenly separated, organized, and presented. Molded gelatin (Jell-O et al) salads proliferated because they offered maximum control.

"Salad greens, which did have to be served raw and crisp, demanded more complicated measures. The object of scientific salad making was to subdue the raw greens until they bore as little resemblance as possible to their natural state. If a plain green salad was called for, the experts tried to avoid simply letting a disorganized pile of leaves drop messily onto the plate...This arduous approach to salad making became an identifying feature of cooking-school cookery and the signature of a refined household...American salads traditionally had been a matter of fresh greens, chicken, or lobster, but during the decades at the turn of the century, when urban and suburban middle class was beginning to define itself, salads proliferated magnificently in number and variety until they incorporated nearly every kind of food except bread and pastry...Salads that were nothing but a heap of raw ingredients in dissaray plainly lacked cultivation, and the cooking experts developed a number of ingenious ways to wrap them up...The tidiest and most thorough way to package a salad was to mold in in gelatin."
---Perfection Salad: Women and Cooking at the Turn of the Century, Laura Shapiro [North Point Press:New York] 1986 (p. 96-99)

Culinary evidence confirms salads of all kinds were very popular in America in the 1920s. Entire books were devoted to the topic. Some of the more popular were:

• The Edgewater Beach Hotel Salad Book, Arnold Shircliffe [Hotel Monthly Press:Evanston] 1926
• Bettina's Best Salads and What to Serve With Them, Louise Bennett Weaver & Helen Cowles LeCron [A.L.Burt:New York] 1923
• Fancy Salads of the Big Hotels, Henri Kegler [Tri-Arts:New York] 1923
• Salads and Sandwiches, Originated and Published in Woman's World Magazine [Woman's World:Chicago] 1924

Eventually, the hold of domestic science relaxed and tossed salads once again found their way on American tables. Tossed salads regained favor. Today, American salads range from the uninspired classic" lettuce wedge, tomato & cucumber doused with bottled dressing to tantalizing creations composed of interesting greens, asian fruits and vegetables, crisp noodles lightly tossed with sesame seed soy sauce. Lettuce-free salads (tomato and fresh mozzerlla) and exotic fruit combinations (kiwi, mango, strawberry) are found in upscale restaurants and suburban supermarket salad bars. Busy home cooks have the option of assembling "salad in a bag" adorned with ready-cut veggies (broccoli, cauliflower), baby carrots, tiny tomatoes, and packaged crunchies (flavored croutons, nuts, mini crackers, onion crisps). No cutting involved.


sumber dari: foodtimeline.org