Define "salad"

[nickrey]

Another interesting note: In Australia and New Zealand, the presence of lettuce, cucumber, and tomato or any other vegetables on a sandwich is often called "salad". As in, in a Subway, they would ask, "Do you want any salad on that?"

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However when I first arrived in Australia and for many years later many people mostly office workers used to refer to unseasoned (no dressing) sandwiches as salad(carrots,onions,lettuce and beets) sandwiches which for me (mainly Mediterranean diet) would not strictly fit the description nor I would eat them anyway.

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Being an Australian who grew up with the concept of a salad (ham and salad/chicken and salad, etc) sandwich, my impression is that this was/is a shorthand way of asking for a sandwich with salad vegetables. That is, a sandwich with such additions as lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cucumber, soggy plastic canned beetroot, etc. It was always considered a more healthy alternative to meat alone. Dressing was typically not included when I was growing up: remember, this was a country at this stage where you could only buy olive oil at the pharmacy.

So my implicit conceptualisation at that stage and possibly my reflex response when asked to define "salad" is something that contains what we would loosely define as "salad vegetables" and something that is eaten cold. No reference to dressings or salt; although it is traditional to be asked when ordering a salad sandwich if you want salt and pepper with it.

Also in Australia, we typically eat a salad with our main meal rather than before it. This leads to interesting stand offs with wait staff when travelling in the US as we wait for the main course to be delivered before starting our salad while often they are waiting for us to finish our salad before delivering the main course.

I'm interested to hear how someone would ask for such a sandwich overseas, or indeed if anyone would. Is it part of Australia's, rapidly diminishing, English heritage or something else. How about Canada and the UK?

By the way, particularly in Sydney, we're just as likely today to be heard ordering a bento box, noodle dish, stir fry, or the like for lunch now.

[Kajikit]

Mmmmm... 'salad' sandwiches/rolls are delicious. As many chopped/grated fresh vegetables as you can manage to pile into a roll, with meat as an optional extra. I make them for DH only in preference to his US tastes I sprinkle some vinaigrette dressing into them and call them a 'sub'.

[phatj]

A carnivorous friend of mine had my favorite answer to this question:

"Salad is what food eats."

[Marya D.]

I remember being in a linguistics class many years ago and being asked to define, in real time, Table and Chair. Every single person in the room knew precisely what a table and chair were, had a clear mental picture of what one should entail, but was completely stymied when it came to delineating limiting characteristics.

The concepts occupy more of a loose range than a strictly proscribed limit.

When you get right down to it. I suspect that most concepts are that way. You and I believe, when we are talking, that we both agree upon the limits of a concept, but that is rarely so, it's the central idea that we agree on, and the limits are subject to a case by case review.

Primarily, I believe that a salad is composed of cold foods, tossed in a dressing rather than cooked in a sauce, but that may be just my perception.

Marya