How many ingredients does it take to call it a salad?

My significant other ate cucumbers and onion with some ranch. I called it a cucumber onion salad. She says there aren’t enough ingredients to call it a salad, because “it takes multiple ingredients”. I pointed out she had three and asked what the minimum is. She refuses to answer so I ask Lemmy.

MrFunnyMoustache,

I know people who’s primary salad is just tomatoes and cucumbers with nothing else… no salt, no pepper, no onion, no dressing, no oil… I still consider it a salad, just not a good one.

theneverfox,
@theneverfox@pawb.social avatar

Carrot salad is just shredded carrots with dressing made from mustard mixed with oil, but I’d challenge you to take a bite of that and tell me it’s not a salad.

Now mix up uncut baby carrots, celery sticks, cherry tomatoes, and cucumber slices. I’ll give you a bowl of ranch, and if you pour it in try to eat it like a salad instead of using them as dip, there’s something wrong with you

Salads aren’t about ingredient counts, they’re about preparation

MartinXYZ,

You can make tomato salad with just tomato and onion.

Fogle,

My girlfriend calls lettuce salad. A bowl of lettuce she calls a salad

dan,
@dan@upvote.au avatar

I do the same thing. It’s green and healthy… That’s clearly a salad.

MargotRobbie,

Does “word salad” count?

Otherwise, 2, a vegetable and a dressing. Because nobody would call a bag of carrot sticks a salad.

Fogle,

Is dipping carrots in ranch a salad?

Brahm1nmam,

Of course not, they’d call it crudite

vitriolix,
@vitriolix@lemmy.ml avatar

All you need is lettuce and salt. “Salad” is derived from the latin for salt: sal

grayman,

Oh i see… sal ad… ad sal… add salt… That’s pretty neat!

Saraphim,

Two ingredients must be present for something to be a salad - a vegetable and a dressing. I make all sorts of salads. Some have lettuce, some don’t. I make salad with just fennel and an oil/vinegar dressing. I make salad with tomatoes & cucumbers with a dressing. What she ate was 100% a salad. This is a weird fight.

kogasa,
@kogasa@programming.dev avatar

Alright buddy. Here’s your “whole carrot dipped in ranch” salad.

Leate_Wonceslace,
@Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Oh, my favourite!

Dkarma,

But sticks are more crudite than salad

Chobbes,

How do you feel about chicken or tuna salad?

federalreverse,
@federalreverse@feddit.de avatar

Even fruit salad is out by this definition.

Brekky,

Usually dressed with a simple syrup

ManosTheHandsOfFate,
@ManosTheHandsOfFate@lemmy.world avatar

What? I’ve never heard of adding simple syrup to fruit salad.

Saraphim,

I feel like that’s a grey area because it’s called salad but only in the context a product with dressing (the mayo). but it’s not really a salad, it’s just called chicken salad the way Kraft dinner isn’t really a dinner but it could be a dinner. I say if it only has chicken and mayo, that’s not a salad, that’s a sandwich filling. If it has celery, onion, etc, you could make the argument it was salad.

Chobbes,

I feel the same way about cheesecake. It’s really more of a pie if anything.

Brekky,

I dont do dressings. What do you call 15 ingredients and no dressing? A fryless stir fry? Genuinely curious if there’s a word now!

PumpkinSkink,

If i chop up a cucumber and throw it in a bowl with some vinegarette, I call it a cucumber salad.

Fogle,

I call that a bowl of cucumber

PumpkinSkink,

tomato, tomatoe. Not that I’d ever put tomatoes in a cucumber salad. That’s heathen shit.

dan,
@dan@upvote.au avatar

If I cut a slice of pizza in half and add ranch, can I also call that a salad?

OurTragicUniverse,
@OurTragicUniverse@kbin.social avatar

Salad because pizza is classed as a vegetable in your country?

PumpkinSkink,

I’m not your boss. Do it up, man.

Dubious_Fart,

Take lettuce for example.

If you put a lot of lettuce in a bowl… What do you have? A Salad?

NO. You have a bowl of lettuce.

You put a second object in the lettuce bowl (Crouton, dressing, another veg, whatever), Now do you have a Salad?

Yes. You have a salad.

There is no maximum ingredient count for a salad, but you must have a minimum of two items for a salad.

tastysnacks,

Lettuce, croutons and dressing is basically a deconstructed sandwich

jasondj,

Sandwich? You mean bread salad.

porkchop,

I want to agree with you, but I think the minimum number of ingredients has to be three. Otherwise, the unbelievably sad bowl of iceberg lettuce and Italian dressing that was served to me would qualify as a salad and I simply cannot allow that to be.

Dubious_Fart,

Yes, but the argument wasnt for a non-sad salad.

It was just, how many ingredients before it becomes a salad. obviously you would want a proper salad with more delicious and good things in it, but that the same way that a slice of bread between two slices of bread is a bread sandwich, so is a bowl of lettuce and some dressing a salad.

hellweaver666,
@hellweaver666@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

Potato and Mayo = potato salad. So I would say two is the minimum. A bowl of lettuce on its own is not a salad. A salad is a classification of coke, (mainly) vegetable based dishes.

superkret,

Potato and Mayo = potato salad

no.

Nastybutler,

I wouldn’t want to go to OPs backyard BBQ if that’s the recipe

Death_Equity,

You know the only barbecue sauce is A1 and it gets added on the plate there.

CaptainBlagbird,
@CaptainBlagbird@lemmy.world avatar
Cethin,

I hate this one. Most of it makes no sense. I get it’s just a meme, but they could have tried harder.

CannotSleep420,
@CannotSleep420@lemmygrad.ml avatar

Only one ingredient: a vegetable. You could be eating a raw unsliced cucumber and it would be a salad.

Squirrel,
@Squirrel@thelemmy.club avatar

I’ve often had spinach, some shredded cheese, and a vinaigrette and called it salad.

Death_Equity,

Are you doing better now? I mean with your mental health.

TrismegistusMx,
@TrismegistusMx@lemmy.world avatar

Her salad did have multiple ingredients.

TvanBuuren, (edited )

Merriam Webster says :

*any of various usually cold dishes: such as

a: raw greens (such as lettuce) often combined with other vegetables and toppings and served especially with dressing

b: small pieces of food (such as pasta, meat, fruit, or vegetables) usually mixed with a dressing (such as mayonnaise) or set in gelatin*

As such, even just cucumber would suffice.

Edit: in dutch, a “salade” has to accompanied by a dressing or vinaigrette, thus very much limiting what a salad is.

Hazzia,

oh shit does this mean mac n cheese is a salad

Shadow,
@Shadow@lemmy.ca avatar

Pasta salad

ElmarsonTheThird,
@ElmarsonTheThird@feddit.de avatar

Just cucumber with yoghurt, some chopped dill, salt pepper and olive oil is a great salad. Add lots of garlic and it’s a simple Zaziki Tsaziki Zatziki greek garlic dip.

Pea666,

But that’s six ingredients! And you have to chop the cucumber as well. Ain’t nobody got time for that!

ElmarsonTheThird,
@ElmarsonTheThird@feddit.de avatar

You could also use pre-mixed yoghurt dressing but I like to be fancy sometimes.

superkret,

Then you have like 20 ingredients

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • random
  • uselessserver093
  • Food
  • [email protected]
  • aaaaaaacccccccce
  • test
  • CafeMeta
  • testmag
  • MUD
  • RhythmGameZone
  • RSS
  • dabs
  • oklahoma
  • Socialism
  • KbinCafe
  • TheResearchGuardian
  • SuperSentai
  • feritale
  • KamenRider
  • All magazines