Salad is a dish made of mixed ingredients, usually served cold. The most familiar kind combines raw vegetables like lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and carrots, often tossed with a dressing. But salads can contain almost anything: fruit salad mixes apples, grapes, and berries; potato salad combines cooked potatoes with mayonnaise and seasonings; pasta salad features noodles mixed with vegetables and dressing; and chicken salad blends chopped chicken with celery and other ingredients.

Today, salads appear in nearly every cuisine worldwide, each with its own style. Greek salad includes feta cheese and olives. Caesar salad features romaine lettuce with a creamy, garlicky dressing and croutons. Asian salads might include sesame seeds, ginger, and rice vinegar.

What makes something a salad isn't any single ingredient but rather the idea of combining multiple items together in one dish. When you toss a salad, you're mixing everything so the flavors blend. Some people joke about strange combinations being “a real salad” when things seem jumbled or mixed up without much order.