A popular 2020 New Year’s resolution is to eat better – and salads often top the list of “good” foods. People have been making similar resolutions for at least a hundred years. There is a poem near the front of the January, 1920 issue of American Cookery that is an ode to salads. Salads clearly were seen as a treat for epicureans. I think the poem also suggests that salads are healthy – though I’m not sure.
“Receipt” is an archaic term for recipe that was sometimes used a hundred years ago.
A Hundred Years Ago 
At first it sounded like a recipe for potato salad, but on second read I decided it was a dressing for greens. It’s a cute poem, although I do wonder about that anchovy sauce.
I think that there may be anchovies in Caesar salad dressing. Maybe the dressing in the poem bears some resemblance to it.
That’s right! I’d forgotten about Ceasar dressing, and I think you’re right about the anchovies.
That is a different kind of poem. I guess a foodie might be motivated to write it.
Apparently there have always been “foodies.”
Love it!
It’s nice to hear that you liked this poem.
LOL, that is what is wrong with the contemporary diet–no, not an absence of poetry, but an overuse of onions. It’s the ATOMS I need to use. I need to rub the onion on the bowl and not put the actual pieces in. I say this because onions have come to give me a lot of digestive upset. This happened at the same time that I developed an oral allergy to celery. I will try to remember “atoms.”
Works for me. 🙂 They had such picturesque ways of describing very small amounts of an ingredient back then.
This is the most unusual I’ve seen–atoms :). I will always think of that when I’m cooking.
I kept waiting to see where the greens were in this salad. I did enjoy the jaunty rhyme.
The greens definitely weren’t the the first thing listed. 🙂
LOL
Did seem like a very small potato salad.
It’s really hard to tell exactly what kind of salad the author was describing. But it definitely could have been a potato salad.
I like it, it’s such a whimsically fun food poem.
It puts me in mind of my Mom’s creamy potato salad.
Looking forward to another wonderful year of celebrating food and fun with you.
Happy New Year!
I am so fortunate to have wonderful readers like you. I have enjoyed getting to know you via our blogs. I look forward to moving into 2020 (and the foods of 1920). Happy New Year!
Onion atoms..I like that! A strong onion definitely can add to many atoms if one isn’t careful. Great poem.
How true – just a small amount of onion can add a lot of flavor.
As a poet I love this! Hehe! I don’t much like salads or salad dressing. I prefer cooked veggies!
It’s fun to see how the poem’s author handled this topic. I like both salads and cooked vegetables – and am particularly enjoying them as I return to my typical diet as the holiday season winds down.
What a terrific poem. Loved the use of the word atoms!xxx
It’s fun to see how the poem’s author used the word “atoms” in a slightly different way than what is typically used today.
This reminds me of an antique book I’ve got that has old fashioned recipes and housecleaning tips. Some are hilarious like throwing wet sawdust on the floor before you sweep. Somehow I don’t think of salad as being around back when this was written. Food for thought.
There are some really fascinating old-books of household tips. I always find it interesting to see which tips still seem reasonable, and which seem really strange.