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[[image:vegSalad.jpg|right|an attractive salad]]

A '''salad''' is a [[food]] item generally served either before or after the main dish as a separate course, as a main course in itself, or as a side dish accompanying the main dish. The word "salad" comes from the [[French]] ''salade'' of the same meaning, from the [[Latin]] ''salata'', "salty", from ''sal'', "salt". (See also [[sauce]], [[salsa]], [[sausage]].)

Salad also commonly refers to a blended food item&mdash; often meat, seafood or eggs blended with mayonnaise, finely chopped vegetables and seasonings&mdash; which can be served as part of a green salad.  Salads of this kind include egg, chicken, tuna, shrimp, and ham salad.

==The green salad==
The "green salad" is most often composed of a mixture of uncooked [[vegetable]]s, built up on a base of [[leaf vegetable]]s such as one or more [[lettuce]] varieties, [[dandelion]], [[spinach]], or [[arugula]]. 

Other common vegetables in a green salad include [[cucumber]], [[green pepper|peppers]], [[mushroom]], [[onion]], [[Scallion|spring onion]], [[carrot]] and [[radish]].  Other food items such as [[pasta]], [[olive]]s, [[rice]], [[crouton]]s, meat (e.g. [[bacon]], [[chicken]]), [[cheese]], or fish (e.g. [[tuna]]) are sometimes added to salads.

==Other types of salads==
Some salads are based on [[food]] items other than fresh vegetables:
* Various [[Bean]] salads - like green bean salad, seven bean salad
* [[Fruit]] salad� - sliced, peeled [[fruit]]s served in their own [[juice]]s or with a dressing.
* [[Pasta]] salad
* Shopska salad� - named after [[Sofia, Bulgaria]], made with vegetables and [[feta cheese]]
* [[Tabouli]]� - wheat [[bulgur]], parsley, tomatoes, cucumber, lemon juice, oil, served cold
* [[Waldorf salad]] - �[[apple]]s, [[celery]], [[walnut]]s, and a creamy dressing

==History==
In the [[Middle Ages]], after a long winter of salted meats and pickled vegetables, people would be "salt-sick" and starving for spring greens. A pregnant wife's yearning for [[Corn salad|rapunzel]] growing in the garden next door inspired the fairy tale of [[Rapunzel]]. Popular history asserts that peasants ate more salads than lords, and were the healthier for it, and in fact salads, cooked and raw, included many ingredients that would be "gourmet" today: lovage, burnet, [[sorrel]].

==Recipes==
*[[Salat (recipe)|Salat]] from [[Forme of Cury]]

This article is based heavily on the Wikipedia entry for "Salad," which can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salad

[[category:food]]