Salads can take their place proudly at any stage of a meal. Crisp and crunchy or lightly cooked to perfection. They can be complimented with a delicately flavored dressing, and be served as a first course, without dulling your appetite. They also make perfect accompaniments to a main dish.

With added protein from meat, fish, eggs, cheese or nuts, salads are a satisfying meal in themselves.

Almost any food, fresh, cooked, frozen or canned, is a potential salad ingredient, offering a vast variety of delicious and nutritious combinations.

Whether it’s a Salad Nicoise from France or a Greek Salad, every salad should have a pleasing balance of color, flavor, and texture, giving it a positive eye appeal.

 Rich in vitamins and high in vital fiber content, while low in calories, salads are very much the food of today, when we are all more conscious about our health and well being. (Just be careful with the dressing, that can add on many unwanted calories).

 Before I share my salad recipe with you, I thought I’d share some interesting salad facts. 

Ever wonder where the name iceberg lettuce got it’s name?

In the 1930’s, Bruce Church (of Fresh Express)

formed an ice company that supported a growing wave of packing and shipping fresh heads of lettuce across the country in ice-packed rail cars.

As the trains bearing the cold heads of lettuce came through towns people would call out with excitement, “The icebergs are coming, the icebergs are coming!”

Fresh Express produces nearly 40 million pounds of salad each month.

Over 20 million servings of their salad are consumed every week.

The average American consumer eats about 26 pounds of lettuce each year.

Different nations have their salads at different points of a meal, and some even consider it frivolous. Salads consume a lot of space, demand attention, are delicate, and must be transported quickly. The French eat salad after the main course to cleanse the palate and to prepare it for the cheese or dessert. North Americans eat it mostly as an appetizer to get the gastric juices going. Eastern Mediterranean people always enjoy it with their main course and often throughout the meal.