The First Caesar Salad Was Meant To Be Eaten With Your Hands

There's an argument to be made that the Caesar salad is the world's signature salad. It makes sense: It's a simple enough base (lettuce, parmesan, croutons) that it appeals to palates around the globe, and it works well with the addition of basically any protein you care to name. If a restaurant sells salads at all, they're almost certain to sell the ubiquitous Caesar.

But much like how modern nigiri sushi began its existence as street food, the original process by which Caesar salads were eaten was a lot different than it is today. It was served in long leaves rather than chopped (some higher-end restaurants still do this today), but the biggest change was a much crazier one: Caesar salad was originally intended to be eaten with your fingers. No, it didn't lack dressing or anything at that point; it was quite deliberately intended to be a messy eating experience.

The history of the Caesar salad is perhaps more hotly contested than any other dish. True, New York and Nebraska argue about who created the Reuben sandwich (it was almost certainly Nebraska), but that pales in comparison to the divisiveness around the creation of the Caesar. Most lore states that it was one of the Cardini brothers in the early 20th century, but there are disputed claims between the two brothers Caesar (who it's named after) and Alex. Alex claimed he created it but Caesar popularized it, while Caesar and his daughter Rosa were adamant that Caesar invented it in Tijuana, Mexico in his restaurant, Caesar's Place, in 1924.

Not only that, but both have been extremely clear that there is a very, very specific preparation for the salad. It was tossed tableside, with one ingredient added at a time. It was to be tossed exactly seven times — no more, no less. And most baffling of all, it was to be eaten with one's fingers. It's not clear how that was supposed to be either accomplished or enforced; finger foods typically don't leave your hands covered in sauce (although BBQ ribs are an obvious exception). But that's exactly how both Caesar and Rosa insisted it was to be done.

Thankfully (and despite the Cardinis' protestations), that practice has fallen by the wayside. By modern standards, it feels truly weird to eat a fully dressed salad with your hands. But even if that issue is now settled, there are still points of Caesar salad contention heavily under debate. And by far the point that results in the most argument about Caesar salads is whether anchovies should be involved — in the dressing or in the salad itself.

Here's the strange part: Caesar's instructions and the modern version of his own restaurant directly contradict each other here. According to Caesar (and Rosa), anchovies have never had any place in the salad — but Restaurante Caesar's (what Caesar's Place ultimately became) currently serves them on their own salads. Alex Cardini's version, meanwhile, has always included them. The disagreement doesn't seem to be going anywhere, but hey, at least it's better than restaurants that put ingredients like bell peppers, feta cheese, and tomatoes on Caesar salads — ingredients everyone can agree don't belong there.