A salad bar is a buffet-style table or bar where customers can create their own salad plates from individual salad ingredients or completed dishes.
History
The origins of the salad bar are unclear, but it is thought that the idea may have been sparked by the
Swedish language smörgåsbord that was featured at the 1938 World's Fair in New York. By the early 1940s many U.S. newspapers' homemaking columnists had suggested the idea for family or guests ("why not serve the ingredients separately and allow each member to assemble their own?"
["Make Your Own Salad." Times-Leader & Evening News (Wilkes-Barre, PA), 8 August 1941.]) and by 1956 at least one U.S. restaurant was advertising the concept ("Have fun at our salad board. You select and make your own salad from large choice of ingredients. Chris' Corral Oakdale,."
[(Classified Advertisement. Oakdale (CA)Leader, 2 August 1956, 7.] Norman Brinker, of casual-dining businesses like Chili's and Bennigan's, featured salad bars at his Steak and Ale restaurants in the late 1960s to keep guests pleased and active while they waited for their entrées.
See also
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Buffet
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List of buffet restaurants
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List of cafeterias
