One of the most famous salads in the world has a birthday, or anniversary.
Caesar's salad, invented in Mexico by Italian immigrants, is 100 years old.
For those who eat the salad, but don't know its history, learn it today!
Italian immigrant Caesar Cardini is said to have invented the dish on July 4, 1924, at his restaurant, Caesar's Place, in Tijuana, Mexico. It was a hot night, and Cardini was trying to feed an influx of Californians who had crossed the border to escape the ban.
In the middle of the dining room, Cardini tossed whole romaine leaves with the ingredients he had on hand, including garlic-flavored oil, Worcestershire sauce, lemon, egg and Parmesan cheese. This is how a star was born.
Tijuana will celebrate this day with a three-day food, wine festival and the unveiling of a statue of Cardini.
Caesar's — a fancy restaurant that opened in Tijuana a few years after the salad was born — reportedly still makes up to 300 Caesar salads every day.
About 35% of US restaurants have Caesar salad on their menus, according to Technomic, a restaurant consulting firm.
Beth Forrest, a professor of liberal arts and food studies at the Culinary Institute of America, said it took several years for the Caesar salad to hit the market.
Forrest said the Caesar salad is ideal for the Western palate because it contains our two favorite textures: crunchy and creamy. Egg yolks and Parmesan cheese are also rich in glutamate acids, which give the salad the rich, salty flavor known as "umami."
Caesar's many variations have also given him staying power, experts say. Chefs can add chicken, bacon or salmon, mix in kale or Brussels sprouts.
Cardini was not inclined to change his recipe. In a 1987 interview with the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, his daughter Rosa Cardini said that her father was very precise in preparing the creation of this restaurant. He used only the tender, inner leaves of Romaine lettuce. He boiled the eggs for a minute before adding them.
There is some debate about the origin of the salad. Some claim the recipe was actually from the mother of Livio Santini, one of Cardini's chefs and another Italian immigrant. Others say Cardini's brother Alex was the creator of the salad, which he made with lime and anchovy paste.
