Editing Salad bar

{{short description|Buffet of salad components for people to assemble their own salads}}
[[File:Circus_Circus_Reno_Buffet.jpg|thumb|right|A salad bar at an American casino's restaurant|alt=A chilled serving table with 2 rows of salad ingredients. Additional leafy and cruciferous vegetables are displayed alongside the food as decorations. A sign instructs: "Make your own Green Salad".]]
A '''salad bar''' is a [[buffet]]-style table or bar where customers can create their own [[salad]] plates from individual salad ingredients or completed dishes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=salad bar |url=https://contemporary_en.en-academic.com/32913/salad_bar |access-date=2023-11-26 |website=Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias |language=en}}</ref> Salad bars are commonly found in [[Restaurant|restaurants]], food markets, and [[cafeteria]]s. Salad bars are a popular dining option in many countries around the world, but they are applied in different ways depending on the local culture and [[cuisine]].

==History==
[[File:Swedish buffet-Smörgåsbord-01 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Swedish {{lang|sv|[[smörgåsbord]]}} buffet]]
The origins of the salad bar are unclear, but it is thought that the idea may have been sparked by the [[Swedish language|Swedish]] {{lang|sv|[[smörgåsbord]]}} that was featured at the 1938 World's Fair in [[New York City|New York]]. By the early 1940s many U.S. newspapers' homemaking columnists had suggested the idea for family or guests ("why not serve the ingredients separately and allow each member to assemble their own?"<ref>"Make Your Own Salad." Times-Leader & Evening News (Wilkes-Barre, PA), 8 August 1941.</ref>) and by 1956 at least one U.S. restaurant was advertising the concept ("Have fun at our salad board. You select and make your own salad from large choice of ingredients. Chris' Corral [Oakdale, CA]."<ref>(Classified Advertisement. Oakdale (CA)Leader, 2 August 1956, 7.</ref> [[Norman E. Brinker|Norman Brinker]], of casual-dining businesses like Chili's and Bennigan's, featured salad bars at his [[Steak and Ale]] restaurants in the late 1960s to keep guests pleased and active while they waited for their [[Entrée|entrées]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sciortino |first=D. G. |date=2023-06-02 |title=Restaurant Chain Salad Bars Ranked |url=https://www.mashed.com/1300734/restaurant-chains-salad-bar-ranked/ |access-date=2023-11-06 |website=Mashed |language=en-US}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Buffet]]
*[[List of buffet restaurants]]
*[[List of cafeterias]]

==References==
{{Commons category|Salad bars}}
{{reflist}}


[[Category:Serving and dining]]
[[Category:Salads]]
[[Category:Buffet restaurants]]