When is National Caesar Salad Day?
July 4th is always National Caesar Salad Day! It's Caesar Salad Day because this is the Birthday of the Caesar Salad!
History
"There are several stories that chronicle the specifics of the salad's creation. Cardini was living in San Diego but also working in Tijuana where he avoided the restrictions of prohibition. As his daughter Rosa (1928-2003) reported, her father invented the dish when a Fourth of July 1924 rush depleted the kitchen's supplies. Cardini made do with what he had, successfully adding the dramatic flair of the table-side tossing "by the chef"."
"A competing story, originating in Mexico, concerns Alex Cardini, who was Chef of Hotel Peñafiel in Tehuacán. Cardini, the son of an Italian immigrant, made the Caesar Salad specially for a gourmet contest in Tijuana, winning first place with his innovative dish."
"Some historians believe that the salad was created for a group of Hollywood stars after a long weekend party. Still others suggest that brother Alex created it as "Aviator's salad" for a bunch of San Diego aviator comrades who were in a hurry, and the dish was renamed later, when Alex was a partner of his brother. A few fellows among Cardini's personnel also claimed the authorship, but without success."
"As an historical addendum, the salad recipe was created at a place operated by Cardini on the ground floor of the Hotel Comercial at the corner of 2nd Street and Main, Tijuana. In 1929-1930, Cardini moved his restaurant to the newly constructed Hotel Caesar on Main St., nowadays Avenida Revolución, near the corner of 5th St. The Hotel Comercial is long-gone, but the historic "Comercial" building still stands at the same location, and the Hotel Caesar's continues to operate to this day. The restaurant closed in 1993, but after a renovation in the late 1990s, the bar in the hotel began preparing table-side "ensalada Caesar per tradition" and claims to serve the "original Caesar salad"."
All talk aside, no documentary reference to the Caesar salad has yet been found, or at least publicized, that can reliably be dated before the mid-1940s—more than twenty years after the 1924 origin asserted by the Cardinis. The first-known instance cited by the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1947, but it had appeared on a Los Angeles restaurant menu several months before that, in October 1946. It is likely that earlier citations will ultimately be unearthed.
Origin of this holiday
Our research did not find the creator of this day. We did however find that this holiday has been celebrated for years. There is plenty of documentation to support that this holiday does indeed exist.
This holiday is referred to as a "National" day; as all food holidays are. However, we did not find any congressional records or presidential proclamations for this day. Even though we didn't, this is still a holiday that is publicized to celebrate. So have fun with it and celebrate it!
We found recognition about this holiday from:
Calendar sites and personal Internet sites that blog and share information about this holiday.
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Tell me what a Caesar Salad is:
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Are there other related Holidays? Yes!
- The 4th week of July is always National Salad Week
- May 19-25-National Vegetarian week
- The second Monday in May is National Etiquette Week
Shop:
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Resources:
A typical Caesar salad comprises romaine lettuce and croutons dressed with Parmesan cheese, lemon juice, olive oil, egg, Worcestershire sauce, sardines, and black pepper originally prepared tableside. Cesar Cardini (Italian-born Mexican) is credited with creating the salad.
Many restaurants offer a more substantial salad by topping a Caesar salad with grilled chicken, steak, salmon or shrimp. Certain Mexican restaurants even improvise on items such as substituting tortilla strips for croutons and Cotija cheese for the Parmesan, or the addition of tomatoes in the Letchworth salad.
