Etiquette of a Salad Course

A consensus, if one could be reached, would indicate that for formal affairs it is preferable to serve the salad as the opening course while for simple family dinners it is easier, and therefore more desirable, to serve it with the main course.

Where Does Salad Belong in Dinner?  

Opinions of Experts Clash on Point

Where does the salad belong in the dinner?

Books on table etiquette will tell you. But etiquette, you will find, knows nothing about geography. Even in the far western states which, for years, have championed the salad as the first course, opinions are at a divergence.

Recently, members of the staff of the Safeway Stores Homemakers’ bureau, which is sponsoring its course in “Kitcheneering,” were interviewed as to their individual preferences. At the conclusion of the interview, the voting stood 12 in favor of opening the meal with the salad to nine favoring salads served with the main course, and with but one of the Safeway home economists holding out for a salad to be served following the main course, and then, only in case of a fruit salad to replace dessert.

According to Julia Lee Wright, director of the homemakers’ bureau and one of the West's leading authorities on table etiquette, many interesting reasons were given for individual preferences. One of the bureau’s home economists stated, for example, that she preferred a salad served first in order to “whet the appetite.” while another observed that, in her opinion, it is better to serve the salad as a part of the main course since, to serve it first, “dulls the appetite.”

According to Mrs. Wright, a consensus, if one could be reached, would indicate that for formal affairs it is preferable to serve the salad as the opening course while for simple family dinners it is easier, and therefore more desirable, to serve it with the main course. “Whenever you choose to serve it, however,” said Mrs. Wright, “whether you follow etiquette books or your personal desires, the salad has become a highly important part of the daily diet, and one that is subject perhaps to more variations than any other part of the dinner with the possible exception of desserts. 

As a result, the Safeway Stores Homemakers’ bureau features salad in its course in ‘Kitcheneering’ with due attention to its importance. Visitors to this three- day cooking school will find, we believe, a number of delightfully different salads demonstrated, and each one surprisingly easy to make.” 

–a Second Debut of an article from the San Bernardino Sun, 1934

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