Caprese Salad Near You

What Is Caprese Salad?

Italy is home to many amazing and famous dishes. Whether it's pizza, pasta, or salads, they truly have a lot to offer.

As you probably know, one of Italy's signature pizzas is Margherita. And what's cool about that one, other than being mouthwatering, of course, is that its look resembles the Italian flag.

Well, in a similar fashion, we have Italy's Caprese salad which is our dish for today.

Just like its pizza counterpart, the ingredients for Caprese salad are mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, salt, and olive oil. Hence, this salad also represents the colors of Italy - green, white, and red.

Restaurants typically serve it on a plate as an appetizer. But make no mistake, you can enjoy it throughout the whole day.

Also, the name comes from the Italian island Capri which is assumed to be the salad's place of origin.

Where does Caprese salad originate from?

The exact origin of Caprese salad isn't known. However, there are a couple of stories and facts that attest to its creation and rise to popularity.

As mentioned earlier, the dish is heavily associated with the island of Capri.

One of the origin stories is that after the First World War, the Caprese salad was invented as a tribute to the country. And that's why its ingredients feature the colors of the Italian flag.

Another more definite record shows that the dish was created in the 1920s. This took place at the Grand Hotel Quisisana located in Capri.

The Caprese salad was apparently invented as a response to Filippo Tommaso Marinetti.

Founder of the Futurism movement, Filippo had claimed Italian food such as pasta was too "calculated." This was in alignment with the general beliefs of Futurism which looked to the future and disowned the past.

Thus, when Filippo visited the hotel for a conference, the chef made a new dish for the guests. It was a new and simple salad fitting for the "requirements" of the movement.

Later on, in the 1950s, King Farouk once requested a light snack from his chef. And what he received was a Caprese sandwich. At the time, the Egyptian king was staying in Capri.

As the island became an attractive place for tourists, more and more people got a taste of the Caprese salad. Thus, the dish soon became popular across Italy and even worldwide.

What are some variations of Caprese salad?

A great thing about this dish is that it can also be turned into a sandwich, pizza, or even pasta.

As for different versions of the salad, that depends on the ingredients. For example, Italian dressing, balsamic vinegar, olives, cos lettuce, oregano, and others can be used as an addition or replacement. How many calories does a Caprese salad have? The number of Caprese salad calories in a serving of 161 grams is around 220.

This includes 17g of total fat or 22% of the daily value based on a 2000-calorie diet.

In addition, there are 44mg of cholesterol (15%), 439mg of sodium (19%), 4.7g of total carbohydrates (2%), 254mg of potassium (5%), as well as 13g of protein.

Where can I find Caprese salad near me?

As always, we at Slice have some great restaurants to recommend that offer the dish we've talked about.

Thus, for those of you in New York, we suggest Claudio Pizzeria. You can find them on 10th Ave - they're open 7 days a week and also offer takeout and delivery.

As for those of you in Philadelphia, one of the best places to get Caprese salad is Shef's Pizza. Located on Sheffield Ave, they work 7 days a week and you can also order for pickup or delivery.