Anybody who knows me know that I’m a massive foodie. Breakfast, brunch, lunch, afternoon tea, nibbles, dessert – I love it all. I also tend to think that I’m quite open to strange food combinations. Apple and peanut butter? Delicious. Bacon and maple syrup? Incredible. Sardines and chocolate? Ok, that one was a joke. But you get the gist.
However, my openness to quirky combinations was tested this Christmas. Our Christmases are your typical Aussie Christmas. My mum will organise prawns, ham, beef, the eternally underrated dinner roll, pav and Christmas pudding. And my grandmother will bring a salad or two, which were usually of the potato or green variety. But in the last few years, a new kind of salad has weaseled its way onto the menu… sunshine salad. If you’re not acquainted with this abomination of salad, I’ll run you through it. Tinned pineapple, mandarin, banana, grapes, desiccated coconut and sour cream. It’s sweet, it can be a little clumpy, but it’s generally fine. I have no real issue with the recipe itself, my issue lies in its name… Who decided that this constituted a salad?
In my unsuccessful quest to find the answer, I stumbled across a few more utterly bizarre dishes that have received the ‘salad’ title. The humble ‘5 Cups Salad’ which consists of mini marshmallows, shredded coconut and sour cream. The ‘Strawberry Pretzel Salad’, comprises of the two ingredients in its name, plus some jelly and sugar for good measure.
Isn’t there some sort of system to determine what can and can’t be called a salad? Surely the inclusion of one vegetable is a reasonable prerequisite! As I mentioned, I don’t take much of an issue with these recipes (the Strawberry Pretzel dish sounds delightful!), but is its place next to my beef and gravy? It’s a hard no from me.
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