Salads

Boldly colored beets and carrots, colorful assorted peppers and earthy mushrooms, strawberries, pumpkin seeds...there is really nothing that can’t be thrown into a salad from your local produce market or Csa. Countless combinations of vegetables, grains, fruits, and herbs create superb salads, each with its own medley of contrasting colors, shapes, and textures. All of the salads presented here have this spunky characteristic inspired by the silk road.

Salads of the silk road typically accompany the main course and are seldom served separately. Just like appetizers, they are part of the meal, further blurring the distinction between salads and other sides. Most salads from the region are not the big leafy green salads to which you might be accustomed (these were introduced by the romans in the early part of the Common era). Most silk road salads consist of non-leafy greens, because, when grown naturally, leaves harbor insects that become bothersome to clean.