Greek Salad Near You

What Is a Traditional Greek Salad Made Of?

Grabbing a fresh salad is always a great way to start off any meal. And for today, we got a very popular one for you - Greek salad!

This delicacy, also known as a horiatiki salad, is an integral part of Greek cuisine. It is traditionally made with the following ingredients:

• Feta cheese - It usually comes as a slice on top of the salad.
• Olives - Kalamata olives are most commonly used.
• Tomatoes
• Onion
• Cucumbers
• Salt
• Oregano
• Olive oil

These are the main ones, but sometimes chefs add bell peppers or caper berries.

What's interesting is that the Greek salad ingredients would be available to the prototypical Greek farmer. Hence, this dish is often associated with a farmer's snack. In fact, the term "horiatiki" roughly translates to "village salad."

What Is the History of the Classic Greek Salad?

While you may assume that it's been around for ages, the Greek salad was actually invented a few decades ago.

To be more specific, this classic dish was created in the 1960s. And its place of origin is Plaka, a neighborhood of Athens.

The story of how it came to be is quite interesting. And it includes some marketing schemes so to say, which were necessary.

To elaborate, at the time, vegetables such as tomatoes and cucumbers had a fixed price as per government regulations. In other words, there was a limit as to how much restaurants could charge for their vegetable-based dishes.

In an attempt to bypass this, cooks figured they could add feta cheese to a regular salad. Thus, they would be able to increase the price as they pleased.

Of course, since tourism was becoming more prominent, this new Greek salad was a very profitable invention.

Greek Salad: Variations

Naturally, the popularity of this dish spread worldwide. However, the original ingredients have been subject to change.

In many European countries, you may find that another type of cheese is used instead of feta.

An additional ingredient that is often included is lettuce, which is absent in the original Greek salad recipe.

Here in the States, a Greek salad typically does come with lettuce, and also peperoncini, radishes, anchovies, dolmades, and even different dressings. Plus, in cities such as Detroit, beets may be added, too.

How Many Calories Are in a Greek Salad?

In a serving of 159g, there are around 179 calories in a Greek salad. This includes 15g of total fat or 19% of the daily value based on a 2000-calorie diet.

Additionally, there are 25mg of cholesterol (8%), 370mg of sodium (16%), and 238mg of potassium (5%). As for the amount of protein and total carbohydrates, it is 5g and 7.4g respectively.

What's more, we have 166mg of calcium (13%), 1mg of iron (5%), and vitamin D (1%).

Since Greek salad is low in calories and full of nutrients, this makes it a rather healthy choice for you.

Where Can I Find a Greek Salad Near Me?

As always, we at Slice are here to help you find the dish we're discussing. After all, reading about it only gets you so far. And you always gotta taste it for yourself!

So, for those of you in Boston, we suggest Andrew Square House of Pizza. This popular restaurant is located on Dorchester St. They're open 7 days a week and also offer pickup and delivery which you can order via Slice.

And if you're in Chicago, then Suparossa is the right place for you. Located on N Central Ave, they're open every day of the week and also provide takeout and delivery. Plus, ordering through Slice gets you 5% off!