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Associated Press

Caesar salad has something to celebrate: it is turning 100.
Italian immigrant Caesar Cardini is said to have invented the dish on July 4, 1924, at his restaurant, Caesar’s Place, in Tijuana, Mexico.
It was a steamy night, and Cardini was struggling to feed Californians who had crossed the border to escape Prohibition – the period between 1920 and 1933 when the making and selling of alcohol was banned in the United States.
In the middle of the dining room, Cardini tossed whole Romaine leaves with ingredients he had on hand, including garlic-flavoured oil, Worcestershire sauce, lemons, eggs and Parmesan cheese.
A star was born.
Tijuana plans to commemorate the anniversary this month with a three-day food and wine festival, and the unveiling of a statue of Cardini.

Caesar’s – an elegant restaurant Cardini opened in Tijuana a few years after the salad was born – says it still makes as many as 300 Caesar salads each day.
Unlike some other menu items from the early 20th century – think creamed liver loaf or aspic – Caesar salad remains a perennial favourite.
Around 35 per cent of US restaurants have Caesar salad on their menus, according to Technomic, a restaurant consulting firm. And nearly 43 million bottles of Caesar salad dressing – or US$150 million worth – have been sold in the US over the past year, according to Nielsen IQ.
It satisfies us in many hedonistic ways, while we can still feel virtuous. It is, after all, a salad
Beth Forrest, a professor at the Culinary Institute of America
Beth Forrest, a professor of liberal arts and applied food studies at the Culinary Institute of America, said it took a few years for Caesar salad to hit the mainstream.
A recipe for it did not make Joy of Cooking, one of the most popular American cookbooks, until the 1951 edition.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Caesar salad was often prepared tableside, giving it an air of spectacle and sophistication, she said.

Forrest said Caesar salad is ideal for the Western palate because it contains our two preferred textures: crispy and creamy. The egg yolks and Parmesan cheese are also high in glutamate acids, which give the salad the rich, salty taste known as umami.
“It satisfies us in many hedonistic ways, while we can still feel virtuous. It is, after all, a salad,” Forrest said.
Caesar’s many variations have also given it staying power, experts say. Chefs may add chicken, bacon or salmon, mix in kale or Brussels sprouts and make the dressing out of miso paste or tofu.

At Beatrix, a chain of five restaurants in the Chicago that makes healthier versions of comfort foods, chef and partner Andrew Ashmore spreads a spoonful of yogurt-based dressing at the bottom of the salad bowl and mixes it with capers, parsley, lemon vinaigrette and champagne vinegar before adding little gem lettuce, baby arugula, breadcrumbs and a generous shaving of Grana Padano cheese.
“It is our number one selling salad, and it has been since we opened 11 years ago,” Ashmore said. “I couldn’t try to take it off the menu if I wanted to.”
Cardini was not inclined to vary his recipe. In a 1987 interview with Hawaiian daily newspaper Honolulu Star-Bulletin, his daughter Rosa Cardini said her father was very precise in preparing his creation.
He used only the tender, inner leaves of Romaine lettuce and left them whole, intending diners to pick them up with their fingers. He boiled the eggs for one minute before adding them and he did not use anchovies.

There is some debate about the origins of the salad. Some claim the recipe was actually from the mother of Livio Santini, one of Cardini’s chefs and a fellow Italian immigrant.
Others say Cardini’s brother Alex was the originator of the salad, which he made with limes and anchovy paste. Alex’s version was dubbed “Aviator’s Salad” because he supposedly served it to airmen from a base in San Diego, California.
Forrest said the recipe also echoes old Italian specialities. It resembles a pinzimonio, a dressing of olive oil and lemon juice used as a vegetable dip, or a bagna cauda, a hot dip of anchovy and garlic from the Piedmont region in Italy where Cardini was born.
Caesar’s in Tijuana did not respond when asked about the salad’s history, but the restaurant does mention Santini’s name on its website.
Business in Tijuana declined after Prohibition ended, so Caesar Cardini moved his family to Los Angeles in 1935. They bottled their Caesar dressing at home before eventually founding Caesar Cardini Foods.
Rosa Cardini took over the family company in 1956 after her father’s death, eventually adding 17 other dressings. T. Marzetti, a maker of dressings and dips, acquired Cardini Foods in 1996 and still sells Caesar Cardini’s brand dressings.


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Food and Drinks

The Caesar salad is 100: how classic dish was invented by an Italian immigrant in Mexico

A Caesar salad. The dish is said to have been invented on July 4, 1924, by Italian immigrant Caesar Cardini in Tijuana, Mexico. Photo: AP

A man prepares a Caesar salad in front of an image of the inventor of the salad, Caesar Cardini, at Caesar’s restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico. Photo: AP

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Caesar salad was often prepared tableside. Photo: EPA

Caesar’s in Tijuana, Mexico, says it still makes as many as 300 Caesar salads each day. Photo: AP

Around 35 per cent of US restaurants have Caesar salad on their menus. Photo: AP

Addicted to cheese, ramen, pizza? It’s not your fault – our bodies are hard-wired for it

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Cheese contains a protein called casein that is known to have opiate properties. Photo: Getty Images

The student was doing up to 5.5 blocks of cheese per week, and blamed her addiction on stress. Photo: Getty Images

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East meets West in tea-pairing lunch at 2-Michelin-star Tate Dining Room in Hong Kong

In conjunction with Being & Tea, Tate Dining Room in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong, is serving a lunch that pairs tea with its French-Chinese cuisine – and hosting a tea workshop. Photo: Tate Dining Room

Wing Yeung (pictured) of Being & Tea and Vicky Lau of Tate Dining Room have created a tea pairing culinary experience. Photo: Being & Tea

Vicky Lau is the chef and owner of Hong Kong’s Tate Dining Room. Photo: Tate Dining Room

Lau’s dish of turnip blancmange with sweet shrimp and seaweed sauce is paired with Being & Tea’s Yunnan green tea. Photo: Tate Dining Room

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Dishes at By the Mekong, a Chinese-Indian restaurant with Southeast Asian influences at the St. Regis Mumbai. Photo: Lisa Cam

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Char siu modak at Papa’s. Photo: Lisa Cam

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“Galinha a Africana” or “frango assado” is a dish traditionally associated with Macau, and example of early fusion cuisine. Photo: Shutterstock

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Koji pudding at Locavore NXT, in Bali, Indonesia is a celebration of the space surrounding the restaurant, inspired by honey and flowers. Photo: Locavore NXT

Matt Orlando and Will Goldfarb (right) collaborated on Air, a new restaurant in Singapore committed to using locally grown produce. They and chefs like them in Southeast Asia hope to get diners thinking more about foods’ provenance. Photo: Air

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Locavore NXT’s koji pudding is a celebration of the space surrounding the restaurant. Photo: Locavore NXT

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Lifestyle

Food & Drink

Caesar salad has been a favourite since its invention on July 4, 1924, said to have been by Italian chef Caesar Cardini, in Tijuana, Mexico


Thank Caesar Cardini if you have ever ordered a Caesar salad at a restaurant – on July 4, 1924, the Italian immigrant is said to have invented it to feed Californians at his restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico.


History

The Caesar salad is 100: how classic dish was invented by an Italian immigrant in Mexico

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Caesar salad has been a favourite since its invention on July 4, 1924, said to have been by Italian chef Caesar Cardini, in Tijuana, Mexico

Caesar salad has been a favourite since its invention on July 4, 1924, said to have been by Italian chef Caesar Cardini, in Tijuana, Mexico