[Poll] SALAD (and Fandom)!

[thefourthvine]

There has been some salad-related discussion in our household of late. (Actually, this discussion has been going on for at least ten years. Salad is an important topic in our family.) I cannot tell you what, exactly, we've been saying, or at least I can't without biasing the poll (and god knows I would never want to bias the ironclad validity and reliability of an internet poll!), but your thoughts are VERY IMPORTANT.

Also, because this is still a fannish journal, and also because I did not want to do two polls, I'm asking about the fandom that is most exciting for you right now. So even if you have no thoughts on salad - although I'm really not sure that is even POSSIBLE - please scroll down for the last question.

In this poll, for the record, I am talking about a green salad. Potato salad and fruit salad and caprese salad and - pasta-y things, whatever, those are fine, but not what we're discussing here. Those are SALADS FOR A LATER POLL. (And there will probably be one. The salad debate is reaching critical mass around here.)

Poll #10114 Salad and Fandoms

Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 665

View Respondents

What is the best part of a green salad? (Assume all items are high quality.)

View Answers

Lettuce!
126 (19.3%)

Tomatoes!
135 (20.6%)

Other assorted vegetables!
131 (20.0%)

Meat!
21 (3.2%)

Fruit!
43 (6.6%)

Other, um, salad components!
25 (3.8%)

Croutons!
51 (7.8%)

Other toppings, like nuts or weird crunchy things!
63 (9.6%)

Dressing!
59 (9.0%)

What parts of a salad do you like and look forward to? (As opposed to tolerating or exiling them.)

View Answers

Lettuce!
388 (58.8%)

Tomatoes!
381 (57.7%)

Other assorted vegetables!
478 (72.4%)

Meat!
218 (33.0%)

Fruit!
273 (41.4%)

Other, um, salad components!
278 (42.1%)

Croutons!
298 (45.2%)

Other toppings, like nuts or weird crunchy things!
401 (60.8%)

Dressing!
406 (61.5%)

In your ideal green-type salad, what is the dressing level like?

View Answers

No dressing.
60 (9.1%)

A tiny hint of dressing.
158 (24.0%)

Visible dressing.
353 (53.7%)

Every piece of the salad is coated in dressing.
80 (12.2%)

The salad is basically afloat in a sea of dressing.
4 (0.6%)

Actually, I just drink the dressing straight and leave the salad.
2 (0.3%)

Someone tells you, "Tonight, we are having SALAD!" Your reaction?

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YAY!
288 (43.8%)

Um, good, because - vegetables. Are good. And stuff.
196 (29.8%)

...And?
147 (22.4%)

So I will be making myself something else.
20 (3.0%)

Smile, nod, and then, as soon as possible, flee, never looking back.
6 (0.9%)

In addition to your thoughts on salad, I would like to hear your thoughts on fandom! What fandom are you really super-excited about right now? TELL TELL, please!

View Answers

Comments

[anatsuno]

I love my salad coated in dressing, but feel compelled to say that dressing in my world is rather different from what I've routinely seen in the US... It's lighter, usually; sometimes a proper vinaigrette w/ mustard but most often a basic olive oil + balsamic vinegar (or lemon) blend.

[vass]

IDK what the USians do (I have heard tell of 'ranch dressing' and 'honey mustard') but your dressing is mine too.

[midnitemarauder]

I am a dressing fiend, but I'm very picky about the dressings I actually like on my salad, opting almost exclusively for some type of vinaigrette (and I love making it myself) that is more vinegar, less oil and heavy on the spices. Also I have a weakness for really good caesar salad (hold the anchovies except for the paste in the dressing)!

Alas, I have to limit my salad intake because my diseased intestines have trouble actually digesting certain things, like, oh, lettuce, and it's hard to have a good salad without lettuce. *sigh*

[schemingreader]

I was just thinking how much I love eating salad for dinner. It must be spring or something. I had some in a restaurant--it was fattoush, but with lettuce in it, cut small so I was actually as excited about the lettuce as about the tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes and awesome, crunchy, last-bread-before-Passover pieces of pita.

I've also had a lot of Passover salads, all designed to ward off horrible indigestion and full of really weird vegetables. Tonight, greens drowned in vinaigrette with hot sauteed spicy mushrooms on top. Neat!

My mom got a huge bunch of radishes for salad. I love those. Also I was thinking, I usually hate carrots in salad, but they are really good with avocado for some reason.

[dorothean]

This is all wrong because the answer should be SPINACH.

[ello]

Word!

[resonant]

We have salad with dinner most nights, and I save it for last because I enjoy it so. But for most of the year, the lettuce available in Illinois is just boring. I think of is as the crunchy backdrop for more interesting things.

[shrift]

I was about to argue with you until I read your comment again, because you are correct. For most of the year, the lettuce available in Illinois IS boring. But when the summer comes and my CSA starts, I thoroughly enjoy the explosion of greens.

Now I want mizuna and magenta lettuce and butter lettuce and all of the spinach.

[amberfox]

I can't reasonably blame you for my lunch plan for tomorrow, since I was thinking about it before I saw this post, but I'm blaming you anyway. Just to keep my hand in, I suppose.

[ello]

Every place you say "Lettuce!", it should say "Spinach!". Otherwise, salads are a great dinner, about half greens and about half other stuff - veggies, nuts, fruit, whatever else is around. Some chicken or shrimp is also good but usually more than I want to mess with. Mmmm!

Bad topic - the fridge is now calling me.

[kindkit]

I used to be a vegetarian, and whenever someone invited me to dinner, my heart used to sink at the inevitable phrase, "and don't worry, we'll have a salad so you won't go hungry." Salad for dinner = going hungry. At least if you're me. I have nothing against salad, in fact I sometimes like it, but not as a meal in itself.

[starlady]

Most "salads with dinner" just don't have enough in them to be a full meal. That takes, well, planning.

[killing_rose]

I would probably be more enthused about salad dressing if I wasn't allergic to soy, and thus allergic to 99% of premade dressings ever. And too spoonless mostly to bother making my own.

Though, yes. I rather like spinach salads a lot. With various toppings. Fruit! And nuts! (And once upon a time, croutons, but again. Too damned spoonless to make gluten free croutons.)

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

Have you looked into 'fancy' vinegars? you might like that with a little dry mustard?

My mom taught me these important salad principles

[mecurtin]

To be a truly Good and Worthy Salad, it must include:

- at least five ingredients
- in at least 3 colors

The colors are *very important* -- a colorful salad tastes much better than a solid-green one.

Salad dressing must always be homemade. I make two varieties most often:

- balsamic vinegar + EVOO + dijon mustard + garlic powder
- lemon juice + EVOO + dijon mustard + anchovy paste + garlic powder

My salads are *famous*.

Re: My mom taught me these important salad principles

[malnpudl]

Your icon is the sexiest thing I've seen in a long time. If I stare at it much longer, I'll start whimpering.

Never move to a cool-summer region. You may never get a good, ripe, fresh heirloom tomato again. *mourns*

[winter_elf]

*looks shifty* My favorite salad topping is cheese. Yes, I'm a bad girl. I admit to being a carnavore. I try to eat salads, but not nearly as much or as often as I should.

[paxpinnae]

My ideal salad is radishes, cucumbers, carrot shavings, cherry tomatoes, at least two kinds of bell peppers, juuuust enough lettuce to pad it out, and a light drizzle of lemon juice. UGH SO GOOD.

Also, I have a write-in for the "Tonight, we are having SALAD!" question, as my response is generally "As long as someone else is making it." I love salad, but there are much easier vegetable accompaniments.

[wordweaverlynn]

I like all kinds of lettuce, but I have disturbing anaphylactic reactions to spinach, celery, and lately carrots. So my exciting veggies are limited to lettuces and cukes and radishes and cabbage. Light dressing --just balsamic vinegar with no oil is good.. Maybe some mandarin orange or blood orange slices. Possibly a sprinkle of cheese.

[libitina]

Carrots and celery (don't know about spinach) sounds like birch pollen allergy

As for salad, I like about three times as much lettuce as is common. And then any tasty tidbit from my refrigerator/pantry

One of the side effects of making my own jam was making my own salad dressing

[chibimuse]

Yay salad! Salad polls are serious business.
I love salads, so I would say yay if someone said we were having salad for dinner! But I might be looking for a snack again in an hour...
My answer was yay to all the salad ingredients you listed, but that's mostly because they were general enough categories that I don't avoid any of them completely. This is not to say that I don't have a fairly lengthly list of particular ingredients that will be pushed to the side with extreme prejudice.

[concinnity]

98% of all pre-made salad dressings are gross (ranch is good for potato chips) and homemade is so easy and yummy!

I'm not a huge salad fan these days, but only because I live in a land where lettuce is hard to grow. :( Salad with fresh lettuce/spinach/arugula/herbs is amazing.

[innocentsmith]

Avocado chunks are the best part of any salad. Although if there are candied pecans, those give the avocados a run for their money.

The dressing question really depends a bit on what kind of dressing it is? If it's a vinagrette, I like it kind of light. If it's a caesar salad, it really needs to be a medium, visible amount, but not enough to make the romaine droopy. But I have a kind of shameful fondness for the classic ranch dressing you make out of a packet and mayonnaise and milk, and am fully capable of consuming vast quantities - the lettuce kind of becomes a ranch dressing delivery system.

[cadenzamuse]

AVOCADOOOOOOOOO. Oh god, you must live somewhere where you can get good avocados consistently. And not with a partner who hates them. :(

Candied pecaaaaaaaans.

[starlady]

Salad is delicious, but that is because I make my own dressing: EVOO + honey + dijon mustard + balsalmic vinegar = YUM.

[gorgeousnerd]

I never ate salads as a kid because they were drowning with dressing (which I've always hated - the closest I get is having ranch with french fries sometimes) and usually mainly comprised of iceburg lettuce. But now that I'm an adult, my salads are spinach, tomatoes, and walnuts (and occasionally chicken), and I couldn't love it more.

[lemon_badgeress]

My answer to the first question is dressing because it is that hint of same-taste on every part of the salad that makes it a unified thing -- that makes it a SALAD, rather than some vegetables I am eating and also there is lettuce.

[torachan]

I like salad a lot. I usually don't eat a small salad with a meal, but rather a large salad as a meal. (I make it in a mixing bowl.)

I'll use whatever I have in the house, but the more things the better. I prefer iceburg lettuce or the "American" bagged salad mixes. I don't like the fancy mixed greens you get in a lot of bagged salad because there's always stuff that tastes weird to me. There needs to be some other veggies besides the greens, such as broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, corn... There needs to be some sort of crunchy topping like nuts or seeds or croutons (my fallback tends to be sunflower seeds). I will put meat or cheese sometimes if I have it, but it's not essential. I don't mind hardboiled eggs if I buy a salad in a restaurant, but I'm highly unlikely to boil eggs at home for that purpose. As for dressing, there just needs to be enough to flavor the salad. I hate when it's got too much dressing. The large salads you get at restaurants tend to come with at least twice as much dressing as I'll use so I always get it on the side.

[anitac588]

Salad is my favourite dish! I love spring chicories, rampion (corn salad?), dandelion and various other lettuces (don't know English names for all of them).

It's my comfort food, and dressing is usually olive oil + balsamic vinegar (black or red).

[julian]

It's only the tomatoes I most look forward to if they're /really fresh/. If they're not, then it's the green beans and other crunchy things.

[malnpudl]

I had a hard time with the poll, because while all those things (including lettuce) are happy, tasty things, the best of all is greens-other-than-lettuce -- field greens, mesclun, bitter greens like endive, escarole, & radicchio. And, of course, spinach. Nummy treats!

Mushrooms, raisins, and raw onions are not invited to my salads, please and thank you kindly.

OTOH, the best salad of all is the one that someone else prepares for me.

[taelle]

Sour cream is my favourite dressing (at least, I think that this is the best way to say smetana in English). And mayonnaise is not bad either. My sister does these fancy dressings of the mixed type sometimes - vinegar, egg, whatever, can't remember what people do this out of - but I am too lazy and too devoted to what I'm used to.

[anitac588]

Yes, tiny chopped hard boiled egg dressing with vinegar and oil - delicious!

[kayloulee]

Oh godddddddd, I've just been reminded by all the people saying spinach about my sister's Salad Of Awesome, the recipe for which I am not privileged to have. I do know it involves the following:

Baby spinach
Camembert
Garlic toasted croutons
Pink Lady apple slices, caramelised
Dressing with apple cider vinegar and mustard in it, amongst other things

It is fucking delicious.

[pineapplechild]

That sounds fucking amazing. I inherited a salad recipe from my Grandmother, which is essentially a spinach salad with fruit, but with added awesome.