I grew up eating salad after dinner--my parents still do. We keep our dinner plates, my mom dresses the salad and toasts a bit of ciabatta or something (important to mop up the extra dressing) and we pass it around. These days if I'm making salad for me and my husband I serve it after the main course, or very occasionally alongside it, but if I'm doing a cold salad-type course for a dinner party I serve it before. That's more like a salad with a hot goat cheese cake, or a tomato salad or something. Now that I think of it I guess I haven't ever served a plain green salad before dinner. The vinegar is good for digestion, my mom says!

At home, I prefer to eat salad after the main course. Oftentimes, salad dressings have a pretty strong flavor (and if they don't, I don't usually like them), so I don't want that to interfere with the main dish.

I agree that it's refreshing too...

In my family we usually have the salad in the middle--we eat a serving of the main dish, pause for salad, and then pick at the main dish until we are full.

I always eat salad after the main course, for both of the reasons mentioned.

We usually have salad after, although depending on what is being served, I may serve it alongside. Love it as a refreshing palate cleanser.

We are green salads after dinner people. If it's something like Caprese Salad, or tomato, cucumber, & red onion, wilted spinach salad or other non-lettuce salads we'll eat it with dinner.

I always eat the salad first as a way of filling up on vegetables before the main course (and therefore lowering the desire to eat as much of a main course). My husband eats his with the meal. We don't eat dessert so there's no need for a "palate cleanser".

The "roughage" aiding digestion is unrelated to eating before or after the meal. It's not like you digest so rapidly that eating it first is going to be meaningfully different than eating it last.

Yeah, as Orchid mentioned, during the average time span of a meal, it's going to end up being held in the stomach and mixed up. You're not going to end up with a big plug of fiber pushing the rest of your foodstuffs through your system.

Oh right. I eat my salads before. Never really thought about it until now. I guess I just do it because that's they way it's done most of the time in the US.

In Australia we mostly eat salads with our main meal - either served on the plate alongside the other food or in a large bowl in the middle of the table so you can help yourself. We never have separate salad plates - as the other small plate is used for bread.

So salads are made with the main meal in mind - as a compliment rather than a separate meal. Salad is a summer thing and vegetables tend to be the winter thing

Most Australians would find it quite strange to eat salad at other times. But I love that there can be such diversity for one dish!

In my family, we usually serve salad with the meal, and i always eat it last as a refresher, but I usually eat the vegetable component of the main dish first.

My parents usually have salad after the main course, but I prefer it first... I'm much more aware of the subtle flavors of salad, and I savor every bite, when I'm hungry and my appetite is unspoiled. After the main course I'm full, I eat less salad (and so does everyone else, leading to pointless salad leftovers), and my senses are not as attuned to those delicate flavors, so I enjoy it less.

We serve ours together, but I always eat my salad first. I'm not a big salad fan, and wouldn't put it past myself to "accidentally" fill up on yummy pasta or whatever the main dish and, oops, not have room for boring salad. I know that it's healthy for me, so I eat it first and get it out of the way. Plus, I hope that it fills me up with slightly fewer calories than my main dish will, so that I don't end up needing to buy new pants in a larger size.

My parents always served/ate salad after dinner...I don't know if the habit came from my German grandfather...but yes, a palate-cleanser, and eating hot food right when it's ready...

Before. Well, sometimes I serve it as a side dish.

I grew up eating them with the meal, but as an adult the placement of the salad isn't important to me. I'm equally content eating salad before, during or after the main course, so long as I *get* to eat salad.

Unless I'm dieting. Then salad first.

In our house when there was a salad being served it WAS the meal. Our salads consisted of mostly non lettuce items like: raddishes, carrots, onion, corn (canned), artichoke hearts, sometimes palm hearts, spinach, sometimes beets. With that kind of effort and hearty-ness put into it, there was no room for a meal.

Like most from the US, I grew up eating it in advance. I adopted the after practice, though, after a few visits to Italy. I especially like a salad after pizza or pasta. The hot, then cold makes sense to me. A salad is like a denouement to the meal, with the entree as the climax and the cheese/dessert/beverage at the proper end.

Uuumm... I´m European (German) and have never heard of the habit of eating salad after dinner ;-) It actually sounds strange to me...

I like to fill up on lots of salad greens first... that way I'm more inclined to get lots of phytonutrients and eat less of a heavier 'main' meal.

In Italy where I'm from, I have always seen salad (and any other veggies) served alongside the second course (meat, fish), as side dish. Better if on a separate bowl. If there is no second course but only a first course (pasta, risotto, soup...), vegetables will be always served afterwards.

My family always served salad with a meal if it was just us; if we had company over, salad was served before the main course. Now that I live on my own, however, salad usually IS the main course: I tend to make a giant salad and mostly fill up on that, with denser foods like meat and grains as more of accents. Bite o' this, bite o' that...usually the latter end up getting mixed into the former somehow ;)

I've been living in Germany for 9 years now, and I've been all over Europe. I've never seem Salad served after the meal.. always before or with.
I've heard before about this being a European "thing" but so far never experienced it.

Stop saying something is "European". There is no single thing or practice that is usual in the whole of Europe (or, if there is, its something that is usual in non-european countries as well). As several people pointed out, salad practices differ in Europe, depending on the country (just like everything else in Europe depends on the country).

I agree with the above poster. There is no "European" anymore. It's used as a buzzword and can be very misleading. It's like saying everything is the same in the Americas. I lived in Germany as well for 2 years, and my bf's family never ate salad after a meal, always before. There are different traditions among countries but also within. In Germany it's also common to eat "Abendbrot" - bread, cheese, wurst, etc - as the evening meal, but my bf's family never did that either.

I always thought salad as a first course was a way to buy time for the main course to finish cooking (or for the roast to rest). I suspect it originated in homes that had a kitchen staff, and then it filtered down to home cooks.

I do salad first so I don't over-indulge on the main course--I always feel like it's a waste of a carefully prepared meal if I'm so hungry that I would be just as happy eating a big bowl of cereal.

After. I'm Italian-American and it was always served after dinner in my house, so I just kept doing that. I've gotten used to salad-first in restaurants, but once in an Italian restaurant I asked if I could get the salad after my entree. I thought the waiter was going to kiss me. It's not a big deal but I prefer it last.

At home, I always eat the salad with the main dish. Eating out, I tend to forgo salad altogether.

Growing up, it was always served alongside the rest of the meal. For the people who serve it before or after the main dish, is this during a normal, everyday dinner, or just for dinner parties or special occasions? I just can't imagine dealing with courses on a typical weeknight with the family.

I don't think I'm into the idea of salad after the main course. As a small person with a particularly light appetite due to health problems, I can't get through a standard main course portion as it is. If the salad arrived after the main course, I just wouldn't have any room left. And I really don't like it when I don't eat any raw veggies with a meal, so that would bum me out.

In France, crudités such as grated carrot, asparagus, radishes eaten with a sprinkle of salt are often enjoyed before the meal. The meat course is usually followed by a simple, green salad. I quite like my salad with the main course.

Also, in France, the salad greens are usually dressed. In other countries, such as the UK, Spain and Greece, the salad is undressed, and you help yourself to oil and vinegar.

Just spotted in the above post: "ruffage"?

My family always eats salad after the main course. Now I regularly eat salad for lunch and not with dinner, but when I do, salad comes later. But this habit, and my table manners, come from my European grandfather.

"you don't fill up on greens before the dish that's meant to be most satisfying"

Err, yes, heaven forbid you fill up on the cheap healthy stuff...?

Also..."ruffage", really?? Methinks you meant "roughage"...

Agree with the above poster, there isn't ONE European custom or tradition. Also, salad isn't served "before" or "after" the meal, but more likely at the beginning as starter, or toward the end. You make it sounds like some people in Europe have a meal, then decide to eat salad, or have some salad, and then get dinner.

As far as French customs, it varies depending on the type of meal and the type of salad. If it's a busy/complicated salad, it will likely be served as a starter. If it's simple greens, they can be served as a starter, side dish, or palate cleanser with (or before) cheese. Speaking off, the US custom of serving cheese before the main meal always grates with me, but it's another debate.

"I've been living in Germany for 9 years now, and I've been all over Europe. I've never seem Salad served after the meal.. always before or with."

Yeah, colour me confused, too. I've spent a fair amount of time in various parts of Europe, and my experience is exactly the same.

If we're talking health reasons, it makes more sense to eat salad before/with the main course. Better to fill up on raw greens so you're less starving when you get to the heavier meat, etc, surely?

In my family, salad (green or vegetable) always = side dish. With pasta especially it's the replacement for the vegetables that would normally accompany a meal of meat and potatoes.

In my house now, salad either = side dish or main dish. And I make a lot more fruit and vegetable salads (usually dressed with a simple mustard vinaigrette - savory for veg and slightly sweet with fruit) and eat them as side dishes, light lunches, or add cheese and/or nuts and/or meat for a main dish.

I don't know of a single American who eats in courses at home. It all goes on the table, family-style.

Ditto the filling up on leafy greens before delicious but more caloric main meals. Greens taste better when you're hungry.

I've never had or got served a salad after dinner anywhere in Europe (and I agree - it's like lumping North and South America(s) together - way too many countries and different cultures for such a generalization.)

The only reason for eating the salad 'last' that I can think of is that you might want to finish the meal first, before it gets cold?

I live in the Netherlands, salad always is a sidedish or a starter - if the cook miscalculated and people are hunrgy - sometimes a main dish (couscous salad with chickpeas/ avocado / cucumber /tomato / cumun etc)

Like many here, I disagree with the idea of a European thing.

A little anecdote for you: I'm French, but I live in Germany, in a shared apartment, with German rommmates. I made Flammeküeche (that's how you seem to write it in English, I always say "tartes flambées") for them and thought I'd serve some green salad that evening, because there's not much vegetables in this dish otherwise. As a French person, I thought I'd serve it after the meal, before desert. I served my roommates with "tarte flambée" slices and was about to start eating when I realised they looked uncomfortable, as if they were expecting something else. "Silly me, I forgot wine!" While I was pouring it, one of them points at the salad bowl that was waiting on the countertop and asks: "Do you mind if I bring the salad bowl over here?" I hadn't prepared the dressing yet, so I had to hurry a little bit. I finally brought the dressed salad on the table and could feel that they were still waiting for something else. One of them finally stood up and took a few smaller plates to give one to each of us, to serve the salad, though there was some space left in the plates.

So that day I learnt: in Germany (or at least Saarland), salad is served alongside the main course, in a separate dish!

Agree with many above. I live in Spain (which as you may know is part of Europe) and serving salad after the meal is not common or typical. In my home, I serve salad alongside the meal always. I enjoy having my salad first but my husband always eats the hot meal first and then salad. Also, I should clarify that "salad" is not always lettuce or greens with other vegetables and dressing as it is in America. Sometimes our "salad" is just one vegetable, like shredded cabbage, dressed with vinegar and salt. I picked up this practice when I was living in Chile where some cold vegetable is always served along with the main meal.

After unless I'm a guest. Then it's all about the person who invited me. No big deal at this end.

Would you please stop saying that something is "European" just because it might be a custom SOMEwhere in Europe? I have never heard of sald being eaten as anything else than a starter or side dish (or main dish, if it's pasta salad or the like) in either Germany or Spain or England. So how European can it be? Research, please. Europe is not a country, it's a continent. We are different from each other (and we want to be!).

My boyfriend is French and his family eats salad last. I was confused at my first dinner with his family, when the salad came after the meal, but he explained to me how it cleanses the palate. I'm Puerto Rican and will usually have salad as a side dish. I don't think it's a Puerto Rican thing, just how I grew up eating diner. :)

After. There's something about a salad after dinner that is light and refreshing. I took a liking to it after the two times I visited Tuscany. The greens are dressed in a high quality peppery olive oil and splashed with balsamic vinegar. It brings out the flavor of the fresh vegetables and the combination is delicious and not too filling. Plus, it means one less plate to clean up. We just serve it on top of the plate we used for the main course.

I'm with Prue on this one. what a blanket statement to make about "Europe" or claim something as a European Culture that maaaybe one country in all of the continent subscribes to...if even that.

I'm 1/2 Dutch. I have never ever seen my family, friends etc eat a salad after. I grew up eating salad either before but usually alongside the main meal (big old bowl of salad next to the main dish) Last I checked the Netherlands was "European" but with that in mind I'm sure everyone else eats french fries and mayo...

I grew up with after or during, but prefer after. But my favorite way to have salad is alone, like a big salad for lunch.

I'm coastal Californian, born and raised, and for many of us here the salad IS the meal. But I go with the "before" or "with" crowd on this question. I've traveled (and eaten) all over the world. When I'm away, I do as the locals do, but for me salad after the main meal is just extra food I don't want to eat.

I know a woman who holds dear many annoying snobberies and affectations. She lived -- briefly, centuries ago -- in another country where the after-entree salad is the norm. Whenever she has a dinner party, she makes a big deal of following this practice (followed by explanations why, of course). It's funny and kind of sad at the same time.

After. There was a big bowl of salad on the table, and we always took some after the main course. I subsequently got used to having it beforehand in restaurants, but at home, I prefer to have it after the main course. I'd much rather tackle the main course when I'm hungry. Whether that's good or bad is another story.

I grew up in Switzerland, and in my father's family they always have salad before meals , and in my mother's family they always have it after. Growing up we adopted my father's habit, and never had a meal without a salad (or soup) to start. However, now salad tends to be a meal of its own in my house....

I like to have salad after the main course - I'll have a smallish portion of the main course, and then distract myself by eating salad until my sense of hunger catches up with the food I've eaten (takes 15 or 20 minutes). This keeps me from eating too much, whereas salad isn't filling, so eating it first does no good at all.

As a kid at home ate salad with/before meal. Spent 2 years in France. Now eat salad after dinner. It's usually just lettuce & dressing. Other veggies served with the main meal.

Never did adopt the cheese-as-dessert thing you see in France. Nothing will replace dessert, not even cheese.

I second all of those people complaining about the "European" thing. Lumping all of Europe into one big pot is really annoying. I grew up in Europe, I've been to France (stayed with a French Family for a few weeks), been to Italy, and a few other countries and the first time I heard about the "European" tradition of eating salad after dinner was from my (Italian) American mother-in-law who always makes a big fuss about eating salad after her dinner. "You see, I am Italian", she tells the waiter/waitress at restaurants.
Not saying they don't do this in some parts of Europe, just not the ones I've been to.
And since we are on the subject of "Things Americans think are European" - can somebody please tell me where the German Christmas Pickle comes from? I have asked so many Germans about it and all I get is blank stares.

I eat my salad with the main dish.

If by Europa, you ar referring to Jupiter's 6th moon, then salad after dinner might be a thing. The continent I have lived on for my whole life, not so much. My family has always eaten salad first (eat your greens so you grow big and strong and healthy), and it is served that way at restaurants.
@HHRI no idea where the christmas pickle came from, but definitely not germany. We like our pickles, but on our plates, not christmas trees...

My mother grew up in Scotland, but we were never served a salad after the meal. I don't remember actually eating a lot of salads growing up, but when we did, they tended to be served with the meal.

I prefer my salads before, for the health reasons above. It's easiest to just serve them with the meals at home though, so that's what we usually do. And on the same plate usually, because with five of us, we try to avoid dirtying more dishes than necessary.

I'm Mexican-American and grew up in LA. We always had salad after dinner. I think it makes a good palate cleanser as others have said. I don't know if that is how they do it in Mexico or not.

It's just food. Don't make it into a ritual. Eat what you want when you want it. Where the heck do these food police get these rules from? In much of the world, people would be thankful just to have either...

I eat most of my meals alone so I have my salad while I'm making dinner, which keeps me from over eating (so it's a simple/lo-cal salad of lettuce, tomato, cukes, and my own dressing of balsamic vinegar, honey mustard, and olive oil).

Growing up in a French-Canadian household, we ate our salad with our meals most days, or before if we were having a fancy meal with extended family.

I hate to be "that person" but, "ruffage"? Really? It's R-O-U-G-H-A-G-E.
Does anyone proofread in your offices?

Hmmm, I was born and raised (and still live) in the Netherlands, and I have traveled quite a bit throughout Europe. I can't remember that I've ever had a salad after dinner. We have salad as a starter, or as a side dish to a main course.

I grew up eating salad with dinner and now I do the same in my own home. However, when I go out to eat, I have a salad before the main course and a salad after, because I love salad. (but it doesn't keep me full for long, so I can't have just salad as a meal)

I love how the entire Europe gets thrown into one basket.
I am European and I have NEVER, in any country that I lived in or visited, seen salad served after dinner. We eat salad WITH dinner.

Personally, I eat salad for lunch (my salad is a huge colourful afair with lots of ingredients).

I just had a chance to catch on the comments made prior to mine (I am in the habit of reading the main article, enter my comment and THEN read other readers' thoughts) and I am truly happy that so many posters rebelled against the practice of calling something that may be common in one European country as a blanket European statement. It has driven me bonkers for years.
It's like when design mags refer to the "old world charm", meaning SOME part of Europe. What exactly does it mean? Italian? French? Scottish? Polish? Spanish? Czech? Lithuanian? Estonian?
Glad to hear I am not alone.

"roughage"

As a 'European' (Belgian) I have noticed this habit depends on the location and on how formal the occasion is.
My family never eats salad after the meal, but in french restaurants it's done (you can choose between a salad or cheese), and on formal occasions in france.

In my culture we eat fruit salad after breakfast + dinner. I didn't eat leafy salads until I became an adult as our dinner mains always have lots of vegetables, why eat veges again?

I think it's sensible to eat leafy salads after a dinner main. It's more refreshing for the palate, like fruit salad.

^^^ I didn't eat salad until I was an adult, either. I lived on a farm and we didn't grow any foodstuffs that could not be preserved/canned. Now I use salad as an appetizer, as I find it surpresses my appetite. However, when in Rome...

I surmise that "salad before the main course" is something people have picked up from American restaurants, which often start you off with a one-size-fits-all, chilled salad as a way to keep you from getting bored while they're cooking your entree. At home, where there usually isn't a cook who eats apart from the other diners, it makes more sense to serve salad alongide the meal; otherwise the entree would get cold or the cook would be tending to the entree while the other siners ate the salad. I hadn't ever considered having salad after the entree, but it could be nice for a more formal meal, if the entree portions are reasonably small. If people don't see the salad coming, though, they're likely to have taken their fill already.

Either before or during the main course and no it's not something I picked up from a tacky restaurant. It is just the way I grew up and the way my parents and their parents (who never visited restaurants) grew up. I see the salad like an appetizer.....something small to get myself ready for the meal. It's also easy to eat if the main dish is taking a bit longer to finish than expected.

The Kitchn often seems to equate "European' with French customs, and anything French is synonymous on this site with a romanticised notion of how 'Parisians' do things. I think having 'salad' after a meal refers here to the practice in most French HOMES of having a simple green leaf salad after the main course. I'm sure most French people wouldn't care, though, if they were served salad before or with the main course.

Salads before or with my meal, often AS a meal (usually with chicken or some protein included.)

I note that in the ~92 posts so far, more than half are either arguing that "Europe" is not homogeneous and that "salads AFTER" is not normal...somewhere, or that "roughage" was spelled in a text-speak way. I think perhaps the first couple of times covered it for both observations.

My background is Italian-American and we always ate salad after the mains. My partner is Korean and he prefers salad alongside the main because of the customary banchan served with with meals in his culture. I have come to prefer it that way as well--the diversity of temperature, texture, and flavors really makes for a satisfying meal. So even if we are just having a simple green salad or something more elaborate, it get served simultaneously with the main dish.