A Note on Greek Salads

I enjoy salads when I go out to eat. And I often order Greek salads, which I like. But let's face, it, what passes for a Greek salad in the U. S. bears little resemblance to the species in its native environment.

Here are two salads I ate on my recent trip to Greece. They each have a nice Greek cheese, tomatoes, onions, green pepper, wonderful olives, olive oil, salt. But no lettuce. Not one shred.

To be fair, Dimitrios explained to me that village salads vary by the season, depending on what is available. During some parts of the year, they might feature greens. This configuration became known as the Greek salad because it is the summer version, the time when foreigners come.

I will continue to eat Greek salads in diners and restaurants. But I will always dream of these wonderful salads from Greece.

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