Mouthing Off | For a healthy salad, keep it simple and add some discipline, not steak, eggs or a giant taco shell
- Caesar and ranch dressings usually served in restaurants are heavy on fat and calories
- French fries with tomato ketchup doesn’t count as two servings of vegetables
Like everyone else, I’m trying to eat healthier. That means more vegetables and greens. Luckily, I like salads. A tasty vinaigrette goes a long way with a bowl of nicely textured leaves, tomatoes, cucumber, sometimes avocado, nuts, plus a few shavings of cheese. If feeling indulgent, I’ll maybe add some seared beef, poached chicken, or flaky tuna.
Do I like it more than a big plate of cream sauce pasta or sticky pork ribs? Heck no! But I’ll compromise my taste buds so my heart doesn’t explode from bacon fat blockage. If that means a little more veggies as my doctor prescribes, so be it.
I know plenty of people who won’t eat salads. Vegetables just don’t interest them, whether raw or cooked. Think about how dismissive or annoyed Gordon Ramsay gets on MasterChef when contestants want to serve him a vegetarian dish.
Their biggest complaint is they say that greens have no flavour, which is not true. All kinds of veggies have all kinds of taste. But it’s not the rich savoury fatty, meaty deliciousness that the animalistic part of our brain craves. You can coat your lettuce and kale in all the oil and dressing you want, but it’s still not fried chicken.
The word salad derives from the French “salade” which itself refers to an ancient Latin phrase, “herba salata”, which translates to salted herbs. It describes an old Roman technique to brine vegetables in oil and vinegar to preserve them.
