Not All Salads Are Created Equal

Often, when someone says 'salad', we think of the standard, boring, tossed salad: lettuce, cuke, tomato, pehaps some onion and a few croutons, all drenched in calorie laden dressing.

Big green salads, loaded with bits of other raw vegetables are a mainstay for the raw foodist and also compromise a good portion of the diet of most vegans. The big energy boost, along with the wealth of nutrients a well combined salad provides, makes it the ideal meal for most of us.

Combinations of fruit and vegetables, leafy greens and crunchy sprouts make interesting salad ingredients. The possibilities are only limited by our imaginations and what's available at the market.

The salad above contains slivered spinach, thinly sliced green cabbage, a little sliced red onion, chopped fresh cilantro, a generous sprinkling of snack sprouts, a bit of fresh pineapple and a sliced banana. This combination seems to have a bit of an Asian theme.




Alternating different dressings can give the same salad a distinctly different flavor and helps to avoid any sense of boredom from eating the same old thing day in and day out.



I highly recommend Nomi Shannon's wonderful book, The Raw Gourmet, for ideas on salad combinations and easy to make raw dressings.

I made up a small amount of Asian Dressing, from Nomi's book, using a fraction of the amounts called for as this was a salad for one, not a family.


With a base of raw tahini, a bit of tamari, some good oil, grated ginger, garlic and a sprinkling of Chinese 5-spice powder, a pinch of cayenne and cumin, it took no time to shake up a little tasty dressing. Dressing leftovers will store well tightly covered in the fridge.


This book is one of my favorite resources providing great ideas for interesting, healthy meals.
The salad pictured below isn't actually in the book, but browsing through the various offerings, all beautifully photographed by Edmond Fong, gave me the basic idea for combining spinach and cabbage as a great green, crunchy base.

Use your imagination and fill the salad bowl with fresh, juicy, crunchy greens and lots of other fabulous fruits and vegetables to round out the meal.

Till next time . . . To eat well; eat raw.