What are the pros/cons of serving the salad dish before/after the main dish

saladserving

I have noticed that most people in the US serve the salad course before the main dinner course. However, my Italian relatives and my boyfriend's Italian relatives serve the salad course after the main dinner course. (I am assuming it is an Italian or European difference.)

What are the benefits to serving the salad dish either before or after the main course. Does it aid in digestion? Palate cleansing?

Best Answer

For a fairly typical thread on this, see: http://www.thekitchn.com/cultural-differences-salad-bef-65008

The so-called reasons I see listed here are consistent with what I found in several different internet discussions of the issue, none of which are scientificially or academically credible:

  • Restaurants serve salad first because it is easiest to get out on the table
  • At home, eat the entrees first while they are hot
  • Eat salad last so that the roughage helps digestion
  • Eat salad last so that the stomach acids are not diluted for the entree

Note that the last two are kind of non-sensical. They sound great as folk science, but in the course of a single meal, it will all end up together in the stomach, as the digestive process is not so fast that the courses end up moving through the system in sequence like cars in a railroad train in sequence over the track.

Then again, some like to serve it with the main part of the meal.

I am sure this is just a matter of cultural expectation.

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