I've never been to the US. Do people really eat their salad as a separate course there? It's usually seen as a vegetable to accompany the main course here, particularly in summer, though sometimes in separate individual dishes which sit next to the one with the your main course on it.
Some starters/hors d'oeuvres are also served with accompanying salad.
I mean, I like salad. But either I eat it as a meal in itself - usually lunch - or a side to a main dish. But this You can't get to the food you want until you chomp a heap of lettuce - is just weird.
The first evening meal I had in the US was in a steakhouse something more than 20 years ago, when I was visiting as a baby graduate student, and we were dragged out en masse to the local steakhouse. I was really quite taken aback to be presented with half an iceberg lettuce, garnished with about a teaspoon of chopped tomato, as a prelude to the purpose of our visit.
The first evening meal I had in the US was in a steakhouse something more than 20 years ago, when I was visiting as a baby graduate student, and we were dragged out en masse to the local steakhouse. I was really quite taken aback to be presented with half an iceberg lettuce, garnished with about a teaspoon of chopped tomato, as a prelude to the purpose of our visit.
No blue cheese dressing? I thought blue cheese dressing was obligatory with a lettuce wedge.
North American steakhouses are a separate category of institution (almost its own culture, really) - everything gets treated differently there. The chunk of iceberg lettuce persists there even now. Steakhouses are not to be taken as a guide to anything.
The whole thing about salad - when in the programme, how - is odd. Perhaps it's the Italian influence in my childhood, but if I'm having it at all, I prefer it after the main as a refreshing course. Before the main, I find salads unnecessarily filling. At home, I prefer a small bit with the main. As a main itself a salad like a Niçoise, Cobb, or cold steak salad can be a fine thing.
I'm not sure about the last bit, eating salad avoids woofing main course.
Family anecdote has it that an elderly male cousin of my grandparents or some such relative was told that he had to go on a diet. So at dinner time he had salad as he was on his diet. And then he had his dinner.
There are salads and salads. Some contain all sorts of stuff and some are just a few things. Here in winter a head of lettuce or a bundle of spinach or mixed leaves can cost between $3 and $5, so a salad might not have leaves of any kind or just a few. Frozen vegetables are more affordable and usual, like peas, broccoli, green beans - do others call yellow ones wax beans?
At home salad would be at the same time as everything. The traditional diet of separate (meat and potatoes) this isn't much usual anymore. Boring. The level of meat consumption is dropping.
I'm not sure about the last bit, eating salad avoids woofing main course.
Family anecdote has it that an elderly male cousin of my grandparents or some such relative was told that he had to go on a diet. So at dinner time he had salad as he was on his diet. And then he had his dinner.
Mr Image and I visiting my southern relatives were fed many fried meals with gravy and sweet tea. We were out alone in the car at lunch time and he said, I am dying for fresh vegetables lets see what we can find." There was a large sign in front of a restaurant saying lunch time salad bar, all you can eat. "Perfect," he said. There we found chopped, ice burg lettuce, and assortment of other vegetables such as tomatoes and corn. We also found, pickles, olives, jello, cornbread and grits and gravy.
I still have strong memories of my first meal when visiting friends in California, which... I think it was my 2nd visit to the US, though the bulk of the 1st visit had been in a work environment.
We went and bought some takeaway (takeout?) Mexican. I'd just arrived and was a little jetlagged, so that might have contributed, but honestly it was so disconcerting. I knew that technically everyone was speaking English, but the questions about options with my meal were so utterly mystifying and for much of it I just copied what my friend had said beforehand, having almost no idea what I was saying.
I remember I was given a choice of a couple of different varieties of beans - black or pinto - but as neither of them was a variety I had ever heard of, the choice was not comprehensible.
Old-fashioned French people eat salad as a separate course. In my inlaws' house, it arrives as the first course of the midday meal or evening meal pretty much every day. Generally it consists of leaves, one other ingredient and vinaigrette.
My most confusing eating-out experience involving salad was in Australia. We travelled as much as we could with our kids when younger, and while they were great travellers for their age, they were not always great at adventurously trying new foods, so we often ate at familiar North American chain restaurants where we saw them, so as not to have to wrestle a 7 year old and a 9 year old into eating something they would find strange. So in Australia we found a couple of such places during our two-week visit, one of which was my daughter's favourite chain restaurant, Subway. Most of the sandwich topics looked like the ones we were used to, and we went through the line ordering in our usual way, then were totally thrown by the question, "What salads would you like?" We didn't know how to answer: we were having sandwiches, not a salad! The Australian friend we were travelling with had to explain that "salads" meant the vegetable toppings - lettuce, tomato, peppers, etc etc. I don't know if this is generally used in Australia or just in that type of chain sandwich place, but my kids (now grown) still remember that sandwich toppings were called "salads" in Australia.
Saying "sure" as we might in Canada may get corrected to "we say yes please" if you're a young Canadian 45 years ago in Australia. Also make sure not to hide things inside tent poles, and know precisely how many segments you have before leaving customs.
Mr Image and I visiting my southern relatives were fed many fried meals with gravy and sweet tea. We were out alone in the car at lunch time and he said, I am dying for fresh vegetables lets see what we can find." There was a large sign in front of a restaurant saying lunch time salad bar, all you can eat. "Perfect," he said. There we found chopped, ice burg lettuce, and assortment of other vegetables such as tomatoes and corn. We also found, pickles, olives, jello, cornbread and grits and gravy.
The reason why iced tea (always sweet) is served in the Deep South is you knew the water had been boiled. Kind of like beer in certain parts in that the water is not contaminated.
Trudy - I have never heard "salads" used in that sense - but then again, I've never bought anything from a Subway. I suspect that the usage is limited to that chain. More normal would be something along the line of "what would you like with your salad?"
My most confusing eating-out experience involving salad was in Australia. We travelled as much as we could with our kids when younger, and while they were great travellers for their age, they were not always great at adventurously trying new foods, so we often ate at familiar North American chain restaurants where we saw them, so as not to have to wrestle a 7 year old and a 9 year old into eating something they would find strange. So in Australia we found a couple of such places during our two-week visit, one of which was my daughter's favourite chain restaurant, Subway. Most of the sandwich topics looked like the ones we were used to, and we went through the line ordering in our usual way, then were totally thrown by the question, "What salads would you like?" We didn't know how to answer: we were having sandwiches, not a salad! The Australian friend we were travelling with had to explain that "salads" meant the vegetable toppings - lettuce, tomato, peppers, etc etc. I don't know if this is generally used in Australia or just in that type of chain sandwich place, but my kids (now grown) still remember that sandwich toppings were called "salads" in Australia.
Not really common, but not completely mystifying either in a context where you're choosing items to go on a sandwich. I'd certainly understand it in the Subway system where you choose a kind of bread, choose a kind of meat, then choose the other toppings.
And I don't think I'd be surprised to hear something similar in another sandwich shop where you were basically doing that, although it's so very rare these days for me to be in that situation that I can't be certain what they used to say when I did it more often.
My most confusing eating-out experience involving salad was in Australia. We travelled as much as we could with our kids when younger, and while they were great travellers for their age, they were not always great at adventurously trying new foods, so we often ate at familiar North American chain restaurants where we saw them, so as not to have to wrestle a 7 year old and a 9 year old into eating something they would find strange. So in Australia we found a couple of such places during our two-week visit, one of which was my daughter's favourite chain restaurant, Subway. Most of the sandwich topics looked like the ones we were used to, and we went through the line ordering in our usual way, then were totally thrown by the question, "What salads would you like?" We didn't know how to answer: we were having sandwiches, not a salad! The Australian friend we were travelling with had to explain that "salads" meant the vegetable toppings - lettuce, tomato, peppers, etc etc. I don't know if this is generally used in Australia or just in that type of chain sandwich place, but my kids (now grown) still remember that sandwich toppings were called "salads" in Australia.
With the order at Subway being bread and meat, what else would you call the lettuce, tomato etc put on next other than salad? Makes perfect sense to me.
Might be having a thick day but salad in the co text of Subway ( been twice in my life; never again) makes no sense to me. Lettuce, tomato etc on top of bread and meat doth not a salad make
The reason why iced tea (always sweet) is served in the Deep South is you knew the water had been boiled. Kind of like beer in certain parts in that the water is not contaminated.
Unless it is sun tea which my mother often made, be we had a deep artesian well that we trusted.
With the order at Subway being bread and meat, what else would you call the lettuce, tomato etc put on next other than salad? Makes perfect sense to me.
Toppings. Veg. Extras. There are a ton of other things you could call it. Since it's not a salad, it's confusing to call it a salad.
Lettuce, tomato, peppers, pepperocini, olives, spinach, red onions, jalapeños, cucumbers -- these things all count as "veg" here. Flogging my mind to think of what else there is, other than the dressings.
My most confusing eating-out experience involving salad was in Australia. We travelled as much as we could with our kids when younger, and while they were great travellers for their age, they were not always great at adventurously trying new foods, so we often ate at familiar North American chain restaurants where we saw them, so as not to have to wrestle a 7 year old and a 9 year old into eating something they would find strange. So in Australia we found a couple of such places during our two-week visit, one of which was my daughter's favourite chain restaurant, Subway. Most of the sandwich topics looked like the ones we were used to, and we went through the line ordering in our usual way, then were totally thrown by the question, "What salads would you like?" We didn't know how to answer: we were having sandwiches, not a salad! The Australian friend we were travelling with had to explain that "salads" meant the vegetable toppings - lettuce, tomato, peppers, etc etc. I don't know if this is generally used in Australia or just in that type of chain sandwich place, but my kids (now grown) still remember that sandwich toppings were called "salads" in Australia.
My UK Subway experience is that the same term is often used here except that it would be in the singular 'what salad would you like?' Salad being the collective noun for items such as lettuce cucumber sweetcorn tomato olives peppers etc etc. After the salad they ask you what dressing you want. All seems quite logical to me. Is it the idea of salad in a sandwich that seems strange? Prepacked sandwiches from the supermarket chiller cabinet might be described as 'ham salad' etc here for instance.
And a lunch of a sandwich of eg ham and salad, or cheese and salad, etc, is common and pretty nutritious. A question along the lines of "what would you like in your salad" would be normal unless you'd already said "no onion please"; you could well then be asked "everything else ok then?". It's the question "what salads would you like" that I've never heard.
The UK Subway site uses veggies and salad interchangeably when describing the salad options for their subs. (I haven't used them for a couple of years, but it used to be an acceptable lunch/midday meal to buy a student when tutoring peripatetically.)
Mr Image and I visiting my southern relatives were fed many fried meals with gravy and sweet tea. We were out alone in the car at lunch time and he said, I am dying for fresh vegetables lets see what we can find." There was a large sign in front of a restaurant saying lunch time salad bar, all you can eat. "Perfect," he said. There we found chopped, ice burg lettuce, and assortment of other vegetables such as tomatoes and corn. We also found, pickles, olives, jello, cornbread and grits and gravy.
The reason why iced tea (always sweet) . . . .
Indeed. “Sweet tea” is traditionally considered redundant.
Butthe explanation that sweet tea was served in the South so you’d know that the water was boiled sounds like urban (or rural?) legend, or the food equivalent to folk etymology, to me. I’ve never heard that theory before. I’d say the primary and obvious reason for the popularity of “ice tea,” as it’s often called here, is much simpler—cold drinks are refreshing in places that are often hot and humid.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, tea and sugar were expensive, as was access to ice, and those in a position to drink and serve ice tea were not people likely to drink or serve suspect water. Ice tea, at the time generally made from green teas, also generally included alcohol and was served as a punch. It was greater and cheaper access to tea, sugar and refrigeration, along with Prohibition, that caused ice tea’s popularity to spread in the South.
The oddity for us with the "salad" thing is that while many of the things concerned (lettuce, tomato, cucumber slices, green peppers, etc etc) could go IN a salad, and all served together on a plate or bowl could BE a salad, in Canada we would never refer to them as "salads" in their role as sandwich toppings. As mousethief said, presumably speaking from US experience which is similar to ours, the "sandwich artist" here would say, "What toppings do you want?" or "What veggies do you want on that?"
With the order at Subway being bread and meat, what else would you call the lettuce, tomato etc put on next other than salad? Makes perfect sense to me.
Toppings?
In these parts, you usually get asked "what do you want on it?" while the employee indicates the boxes containing the various possibilities.
As a Brit dinosaur, I'm totally baffled. 'Salad' might go with, i.e. alongside but separate. 'Topping' might go on top of the upper piece of bread. You might have a 'garnish' - a sort of gesture - a lettuce leaf of sprig of watercress - place on the plate alongside the sandwich. (I once complained to the waitress that the perfunctory leaf that came with the sandwich I had ordered was oozing green slime, to which the reply came that I wasn't supposed to eat it. This, needless to say, was in 20th century Britain - ah the good old days! But anything that goes between the slices of bread, even if on top of meat or cheese, is 'filling'. Which of these are we discussing, please?
Subway is an American sandwich chain. Their sandwiches are constructed from bread rolls, offered in half-a-dozen different recipes, that are roughly a foot long and 3 inches across; customers purchase a sandwich made from either a whole roll ("a footlong") or a half ("a six inch"). The sandwich is assembled in front of the customer from the ingredients on display.
Being an American sandwich, the principal filling is a large quantity of meat. One specifies the sandwich by the kind(s) of meat that it contains. Slices of ham, turkey, salami, whole chicken breasts, meatballs, and similar items are available.
Again because America, the offer of slices of cheese is automatic; there are several kinds but none of them have any flavour. At this point, there will be an offer to have your sandwich "toasted", which means shoved under the grill whilst opened for long enough to melt the cheese a little.
Then you have the choice of additional fillings / toppings / salad / veg / whatever. It is these additions that we are discussing. The shop contains a number of plastic bins containing lettuce, tomato, sliced cucumber, onion, pickles, sweet peppers, spicy peppers etc., and the customer selects which of these they require in their sandwich.
The final step is the offer of generous squirts from a number of squeezy bottles containing various kinds of salad dressing, oil, vinegar and the like.
My UK Subway experience is that the same term is often used here except that it would be in the singular 'what salad would you like?' Salad being the collective noun for items such as lettuce cucumber sweetcorn tomato olives peppers etc etc. After the salad they ask you what dressing you want. All seems quite logical to me. Is it the idea of salad in a sandwich that seems strange? Prepacked sandwiches from the supermarket chiller cabinet might be described as 'ham salad' etc here for instance.
It's not the idea of salad in a sandwich that seems strange, but using salad as a collective noun for items such as lettuce etc. In the US, at least, salad is a dish (I mean the food not the servingware), not a collection of products. So when somebody meets a new (to them) use of the term, they are confused. If someone said "what salad do you want on your sub sandwich?" the immediate thought is of someone mixing up a salad (say, a caesar or cobb) and then putting it on the sandwich. It is not "oh they mean do I want pickle chips or jalapeños". Apparently I'm not the only person thinking this way or we wouldn't have this tangent.
Ham salad, tuna salad, etc., as sandwich ingredients, are in a class by themselves and are generally not referred to in the collectives as "salads". If a waitron asked "do you want a salad?" one would be very surprised indeed if minced ham with pickles was on offer.
Subway is an American sandwich chain. Their sandwiches are constructed from bread rolls, offered in half-a-dozen different recipes, that are roughly a foot long and 3 inches across; customers purchase a sandwich made from either a whole roll ("a footlong") or a half ("a six inch"). The sandwich is assembled in front of the customer from the ingredients on display.
Being an American sandwich, the principal filling is a large quantity of meat. One specifies the sandwich by the kind(s) of meat that it contains. Slices of ham, turkey, salami, whole chicken breasts, meatballs, and similar items are available.
Again because America, the offer of slices of cheese is automatic; there are several kinds but none of them have any flavour. At this point, there will be an offer to have your sandwich "toasted", which means shoved under the grill whilst opened for long enough to melt the cheese a little.
Then you have the choice of additional fillings / toppings / salad / veg / whatever. It is these additions that we are discussing. The shop contains a number of plastic bins containing lettuce, tomato, sliced cucumber, onion, pickles, sweet peppers, spicy peppers etc., and the customer selects which of these they require in their sandwich.
The final step is the offer of generous squirts from a number of squeezy bottles containing various kinds of salad dressing, oil, vinegar and the like.
Doesn't the entire Western World have Subway?
The kids quite like it but I find the main flavour regardless of what you actually choose is Subway.
Subway are now advertising a T.L.C. (Tastes Like Chicken) and Plant Patty option in the UK, but when I was buying the occasional half sub for lunch I would confuse the system by refusing anything but the salad, because I don't like meat and the cheese isn't worth having. Definitely not my preferred food. I suspect I still would as I like synthetic meat even less than real meat.
It probably does, now, although I think the only non-American one I've actually ever been in has been an an airport.
There's nothing terribly wrong with it, but I agree with you that it doesn't have much in the way of flavour. I can't quite imagine being in the UK and wanting to go into a Subway, when IME much tastier sandwiches are fairly easy to find.
It probably does, now, although I think the only non-American one I've actually ever been in has been an an airport.
There's nothing terribly wrong with it, but I agree with you that it doesn't have much in the way of flavour. I can't quite imagine being in the UK and wanting to go into a Subway, when IME much tastier sandwiches are fairly easy to find.
The trick is to go heavy on the chillies and chilli sauce, IME.
I think part of the reason Subway's bread (so called) is so full of sugar is so that it will rise quickly. They bake their own bread on-site the night before. You want those little yeasties to be in high gear, farting up a storm, and sugar is more digestible than flour.
The kids quite like it but I find the main flavour regardless of what you actually choose is Subway.
Yes ... if you’ll remember my story, the kids liking it was the only reason we were in a Subway in Australia. The familiar can be very comforting when all around you is strange.
I agree entirely with mousethief’s explanation — it’s the use of “salads” as a collective noun for the veggies you’d put in a sandwich, that strikes the North American ear so oddly.
Can I pick it apart a bit more please? "Salad" in America refers to an assemblage composed of at least two different elements (usually vegetable in nature, but then there's tuna salad, and etc.). So when someone says "What salads do you want on that?" and is pointing at a bin of lettuce, a bin of tomatoes, a bin of olives, it makes my brain short out. Each of those is one element, one veggie--NOT a "salad." You could barely justify asking "What salad (singular) do you want on that?" if you expected them to choose at least two veggies, though it would still be weird. But you can't, you just can't, refer to a tomato as a salad. Or a handful of olives. And you can't call the two of them together "saladSSSSSS." That would have to be at least two separate assemblages, probably on two separate dishes.
By analogy, it's like going to the bookstore and saying, "I'd like to order some libraries."
But you can't, you just can't, refer to a tomato as a salad.
I think I would refer to things like tomatoes, lettuce, and cucumber as "salad vegetables" - they are vegetables that are normal salad constituents. (Yes, tomato is botanically a fruit. It's functionally a vegetable, unless you're making tomato jam.)
I can imagine "salad vegetable" being abbreviated to "salad" in some contexts, although in Subway, I'm wondering what's wrong with "vegetables". It's not like they're offering you some roast potatoes or brussels sprouts on your sandwich, and I don't think they have non-vegetable salad ingredients like croutons or bacon bits, do they?
But you can't, you just can't, refer to a tomato as a salad.
I think I would refer to things like tomatoes, lettuce, and cucumber as "salad vegetables" - they are vegetables that are normal salad constituents. (Yes, tomato is botanically a fruit. It's functionally a vegetable, unless you're making tomato jam.)
I can imagine "salad vegetable" being abbreviated to "salad" in some contexts, although in Subway, I'm wondering what's wrong with "vegetables". It's not like they're offering you some roast potatoes or brussels sprouts on your sandwich, and I don't think they have non-vegetable salad ingredients like croutons or bacon bits, do they?
If they said "vegetables" to me it would sound like they were offering cabbage, peas or sprouts. Every sandwich shop in the UK where I can recall the issue arising has referred to vegetation in a sandwich as "salad", but never "salads". Salad as an uncountable noun suggests to me a category - vegetables eaten raw, as opposed to "a salad" which is an assemblage of such as a side or main dish. "Salads" would be two or more such assemblages.
The sandwich shop I occasionally use near work has sandwich prices with and without "salad", which means plant things in the sandwich alongside the main ingredient. You can also buy "a salad", which is an assemblage of salad items in a box. It's never seemed in the slightest odd to me. I thought this was normal UK usage. They will ask "what salad do you want in this?" and no-one bats an eyelid if the response is "oh, just the cucumber". Cucumber can't on its own make "a salad", but it is in the "salad" category.
Comments
Only in restaurants.
The first evening meal I had in the US was in a steakhouse something more than 20 years ago, when I was visiting as a baby graduate student, and we were dragged out en masse to the local steakhouse. I was really quite taken aback to be presented with half an iceberg lettuce, garnished with about a teaspoon of chopped tomato, as a prelude to the purpose of our visit.
The whole thing about salad - when in the programme, how - is odd. Perhaps it's the Italian influence in my childhood, but if I'm having it at all, I prefer it after the main as a refreshing course. Before the main, I find salads unnecessarily filling. At home, I prefer a small bit with the main. As a main itself a salad like a Niçoise, Cobb, or cold steak salad can be a fine thing.
At home salad would be at the same time as everything. The traditional diet of separate (meat and potatoes) this isn't much usual anymore. Boring. The level of meat consumption is dropping.
Did he lose weight? Asking for a friend.
We went and bought some takeaway (takeout?) Mexican. I'd just arrived and was a little jetlagged, so that might have contributed, but honestly it was so disconcerting. I knew that technically everyone was speaking English, but the questions about options with my meal were so utterly mystifying and for much of it I just copied what my friend had said beforehand, having almost no idea what I was saying.
I remember I was given a choice of a couple of different varieties of beans - black or pinto - but as neither of them was a variety I had ever heard of, the choice was not comprehensible.
The reason why iced tea (always sweet) is served in the Deep South is you knew the water had been boiled. Kind of like beer in certain parts in that the water is not contaminated.
Not really common, but not completely mystifying either in a context where you're choosing items to go on a sandwich. I'd certainly understand it in the Subway system where you choose a kind of bread, choose a kind of meat, then choose the other toppings.
And I don't think I'd be surprised to hear something similar in another sandwich shop where you were basically doing that, although it's so very rare these days for me to be in that situation that I can't be certain what they used to say when I did it more often.
With the order at Subway being bread and meat, what else would you call the lettuce, tomato etc put on next other than salad? Makes perfect sense to me.
Toppings. Veg. Extras. There are a ton of other things you could call it. Since it's not a salad, it's confusing to call it a salad.
My UK Subway experience is that the same term is often used here except that it would be in the singular 'what salad would you like?' Salad being the collective noun for items such as lettuce cucumber sweetcorn tomato olives peppers etc etc. After the salad they ask you what dressing you want. All seems quite logical to me. Is it the idea of salad in a sandwich that seems strange? Prepacked sandwiches from the supermarket chiller cabinet might be described as 'ham salad' etc here for instance.
Butthe explanation that sweet tea was served in the South so you’d know that the water was boiled sounds like urban (or rural?) legend, or the food equivalent to folk etymology, to me. I’ve never heard that theory before. I’d say the primary and obvious reason for the popularity of “ice tea,” as it’s often called here, is much simpler—cold drinks are refreshing in places that are often hot and humid.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, tea and sugar were expensive, as was access to ice, and those in a position to drink and serve ice tea were not people likely to drink or serve suspect water. Ice tea, at the time generally made from green teas, also generally included alcohol and was served as a punch. It was greater and cheaper access to tea, sugar and refrigeration, along with Prohibition, that caused ice tea’s popularity to spread in the South.
Toppings?
In these parts, you usually get asked "what do you want on it?" while the employee indicates the boxes containing the various possibilities.
Being an American sandwich, the principal filling is a large quantity of meat. One specifies the sandwich by the kind(s) of meat that it contains. Slices of ham, turkey, salami, whole chicken breasts, meatballs, and similar items are available.
Again because America, the offer of slices of cheese is automatic; there are several kinds but none of them have any flavour. At this point, there will be an offer to have your sandwich "toasted", which means shoved under the grill whilst opened for long enough to melt the cheese a little.
Then you have the choice of additional fillings / toppings / salad / veg / whatever. It is these additions that we are discussing. The shop contains a number of plastic bins containing lettuce, tomato, sliced cucumber, onion, pickles, sweet peppers, spicy peppers etc., and the customer selects which of these they require in their sandwich.
The final step is the offer of generous squirts from a number of squeezy bottles containing various kinds of salad dressing, oil, vinegar and the like.
It's not the idea of salad in a sandwich that seems strange, but using salad as a collective noun for items such as lettuce etc. In the US, at least, salad is a dish (I mean the food not the servingware), not a collection of products. So when somebody meets a new (to them) use of the term, they are confused. If someone said "what salad do you want on your sub sandwich?" the immediate thought is of someone mixing up a salad (say, a caesar or cobb) and then putting it on the sandwich. It is not "oh they mean do I want pickle chips or jalapeños". Apparently I'm not the only person thinking this way or we wouldn't have this tangent.
Ham salad, tuna salad, etc., as sandwich ingredients, are in a class by themselves and are generally not referred to in the collectives as "salads". If a waitron asked "do you want a salad?" one would be very surprised indeed if minced ham with pickles was on offer.
Doesn't the entire Western World have Subway?
The kids quite like it but I find the main flavour regardless of what you actually choose is Subway.
Which is why the title of this thread references the fact that American English and British English are two different animals.
That was my point.
It probably does, now, although I think the only non-American one I've actually ever been in has been an an airport.
There's nothing terribly wrong with it, but I agree with you that it doesn't have much in the way of flavour. I can't quite imagine being in the UK and wanting to go into a Subway, when IME much tastier sandwiches are fairly easy to find.
The trick is to go heavy on the chillies and chilli sauce, IME.
Note that in Ireland the outer part of a Subway product cannot be desribed as "bread" as the sugar content is too high. ( https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/01/irish-court-rules-subway-bread-is-not-bread )
Ah. I see.
I think part of the reason Subway's bread (so called) is so full of sugar is so that it will rise quickly. They bake their own bread on-site the night before. You want those little yeasties to be in high gear, farting up a storm, and sugar is more digestible than flour.
Yes ... if you’ll remember my story, the kids liking it was the only reason we were in a Subway in Australia. The familiar can be very comforting when all around you is strange.
I agree entirely with mousethief’s explanation — it’s the use of “salads” as a collective noun for the veggies you’d put in a sandwich, that strikes the North American ear so oddly.
By analogy, it's like going to the bookstore and saying, "I'd like to order some libraries."
I think I would refer to things like tomatoes, lettuce, and cucumber as "salad vegetables" - they are vegetables that are normal salad constituents. (Yes, tomato is botanically a fruit. It's functionally a vegetable, unless you're making tomato jam.)
I can imagine "salad vegetable" being abbreviated to "salad" in some contexts, although in Subway, I'm wondering what's wrong with "vegetables". It's not like they're offering you some roast potatoes or brussels sprouts on your sandwich, and I don't think they have non-vegetable salad ingredients like croutons or bacon bits, do they?
Yes, I suppose they are.
As are olives, and all three kinds of peppers they serve. Getting lost in the details serves no end.
If they said "vegetables" to me it would sound like they were offering cabbage, peas or sprouts. Every sandwich shop in the UK where I can recall the issue arising has referred to vegetation in a sandwich as "salad", but never "salads". Salad as an uncountable noun suggests to me a category - vegetables eaten raw, as opposed to "a salad" which is an assemblage of such as a side or main dish. "Salads" would be two or more such assemblages.
The sandwich shop I occasionally use near work has sandwich prices with and without "salad", which means plant things in the sandwich alongside the main ingredient. You can also buy "a salad", which is an assemblage of salad items in a box. It's never seemed in the slightest odd to me. I thought this was normal UK usage. They will ask "what salad do you want in this?" and no-one bats an eyelid if the response is "oh, just the cucumber". Cucumber can't on its own make "a salad", but it is in the "salad" category.