Roman Salads

The origin of the word "salad" is the Latin herba salata, or "salted greens." Its adoption is believed to have grown out of the ancient Roman habit of dipping romaine lettuce in salt. The Romans quickly changed the tradition of just salting greens by dressing them with vinaigrettes, which they created out of simple combinations of olive oil, vinegar and salt. Several varieties of lettuces and greens were a staple of the ancient Egyptians, Romans and Greeks.

Pliny the Elder in Natural History reported that salads (acetaria) were composed of those garden products that "needed no fire for cooking and saved fuel, and which were a resource to store and always ready" (Natural History, XIX, 58). They were easy to digest and were not calculated to overload the senses or stimulate the appetite.

The cookery writer Marcus Apicius of the first century C.E. offered several salad recipes, some of which were unusual. His recipe for "bread salad" covers the bottom of a large salad bowl with bread, then adds layers of sliced chicken, more bread, sweetbreads, shredded cheese, pine nuts or almonds, cucumber slices, finely chopped onions, then finishes with another layer of bread. A dressing made of celery seed, pennyroyal, mint, ginger, coriander, raisins, honey, vinegar, olive oil, and white wine is poured over the salad.

Another dressing Apicius used on lettuce was a cheese sauce that included pepper, lovage, dried mint, pine nuts, raisins, dates, sweet cheese, honey, vinegar, garum (fish sauce), oil, wine, and other ingredients.

Other Roman salads were similar to present-day ones, such as lettuce and cucumbers or raw endive dressed with garum, olive oil, chopped onion, and vinegar or a dressing of honey, vinegar, and olive oil. Roman salad dressings eventually became more complex. Apicius gave a recipe for one containing ginger, rue, dates, pepper, honey, cumin, and vinegar.

"Although the ancient Greeks and Romans did not use the world "salad," they enjoyed a variety of dishes with raw vegetables dressed with vinegar, oil, and herbs...The medical practitioners Hippocrates and Galen belived that raw vegetables easily slipped through the system and did not create obstructions for what followed, therefore they should be served first. Others reported that the vinegar in the dressing destroyed the taste of the wine, therefore they should be served last. This debate has continued ever since...

With the fall of Rome, salads were less important in western Europe, although raw vegetables and fruit were eaten on fast days and as medicinal correctives...The term salade derived from the Vulgar Roman herba salata, literally 'salted herb'. It remained a feature of Byzantine cookery and reentered the European menu via medieval Spain and Renaissance Italy. At first "salad" referred to various kinds of greens pickled in vinegar or salt. The word salade later referred to fresh-cooked greens of raw vegetables prepared in the Roman manner."
---Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, Solomon H. Katz, editor and William Woys Weaver, associate editor [Charles Scribner's Sons:New York] 2003, Volume 3 (p. 224-5)

Etymologically, the key ingredient of salad, and the reason for its getting its name, is the dressing. The Romans were enthusiastic eaters of salads, many of their differing hardly at all from present-day ones--a simple selection of raw vegetables...--and they always used a dressing of some sort: oil, vinegar, and often brine. And hence the name salad, which comes from Vulgar Latin Herba salata, literally 'salted herb'.

Recipes:

Oxyporium (salad dressing)