Men and salads

How funny! My husband loves salads. Lately I’ve been making “chopped salad” because we saw Rick Stein making one on the telly which is basically chopping gem lettuce into chunks rather than separating the leaves, and then adding whatever else you feel like. We’ve both been enjoying these rather than the limp baby leaves in bags (that cost a fortune compared to the gem lettuces).

I love crisp chunks of salad. Piles of just lettuce leaves are depressing somehow - you can eat and eat and they don't go down! I love to add walnuts and blue cheese chunks too.

I wonder if , like me, he was raised on a very english idea of what a salad is. My mother was an exceptional cook but only across a fairly narrow range of dishes. A salad was a lettuce separated into its leaves, tomatoes cut in half and a few spring onions. That was it. No seasoning, no dressing. Not even the ubiquitous jar of Heinz salad cream. I hated them!
Now, I make salads of all varieties, all packed with flavour.
Might I suggest a potato salad as a start? A greek potato salad does not use mayo but packs a lot of flavour as well as potatoes of course!

My OH loves salads as much as I do, especially when I add grated carrot with orange, sweetcorn, celery with nuts, potato salad……much of which he’d never had until we met. We’ve not cooked for over a week as it’s been too warm.

I happen to like salad, but as a side to a main meal (the salmon sounds great, by the way). The problem is, it's not particularly filling on its own, meaning I'm looking for something else to eat not longer after, if I just had a salad as a meal. Maybe this is how it is for your husband.

I realise how frustrating it is, but surely your husband should be allowed to choose what he wants to eat, even if it differs from your choice. My wife and I share the same meals three or four times a week. All other times we eat what we feel like, and wouldn't dream of trying to force the other to eat a meal they don't want. Your DH may be just as fed up with you expecting him to have what you're having, as you are with him not wanting it.

As it happens, there's usually a solution to a problem. Here is something I have done in the past. How about suggesting a salad including cold rice? Add the salmon too. This would provide something more filling and could be a good compromise. You could add hard boiled eggs to a salad. Someone has suggested having potato salad as well - great idea.

There are ways to compromise but at the end of the day, people should be able to eat the food of their choice.

Unless there is potato salad, rice or chunky bread with a salad my men are always still hungry.

Last night we had chicken skewers with lettuce, vine tomatoes, gherkins, beetroot and red pepper. I made a big bowl of egg fried rice with spring onions and peas. That filled them up!

Pasta, rice, quinoa, potatoes, cous cous etc all feature in our salads.
My husband is just as happy to have salad as I am and he always makes a version of coleslaw. We don't make a two lettuce leaves and three slices of cucumber sort though - which haven't ever seemed interesting to me.

Maybe he feels he needs something more substantial?

Have a look at a few Ottolenghi salad ideas.
I don't think anyone would find these dull or unsatisfying.

ottolenghi.co.uk/pages/salad-recipes

Or let him make soup!!

I like salads with chunks of iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, sliced avocado, tiny pieces of ripe peach, and mozzarella. I sometimes swap the avocado with smoked salmon. We both enjoy it, and we eat it with garlic bread.

I make chopped salad for myself and will add fruits/cheese/croutons etc but my partner likes to have the old plain lettuce leaves/toms/cucumber type. He does prefer to have potato in some form too.
Pasta salad or rice salads (simple curry ones are nice) and help bulk out.
I make a simple honey/mustard dressing for myself but he likes salad cream.

My husband also loves salads, I have taught him how to make a really good dressing, no salad is a good salad without the fright dressing.

My Dad would never eat Salad, calling it Rabbit food!

So when we had tinned Salmon and Salad for Sunday tea, he would just have the Salmon in a dish with bread and butter.

I love all these salads and regularly include potato salad and rice salads. With hard boiled eggs, tuna/salmon, olives, potato salad etc etc I've explained to him that, along with the mayonnaise he slops on, the calories count us just as high as a hot meal. But somehow it doesn't count

I add seeds, dried cranberries etc to salads, finely sliced dates, halloumi or feta or grated cheddar … anything I have really.

I agree a good dressing is essential, I make my own, the shop ones are too acidic.

I do want a substantial meal once a day but in summer if salads replace vegetables that's fine. Sometimes I will put a baked potato in the microwave and add to a salad, but it's no big deal.
We have a roast most Sundays then cold meat for 2 or 3 days, fish one day various on the other 2.

In this weather a roast is unimaginable! I'll get him a few ready made curries that he can microwave if a salad is, somehow, not enough.

My DH is not too keen on salads, I “jazz” them up as much as possible but I’m not cooking in this mad heat other than to hard boil eggs and cook salmon!!

I can’t remember my late DH eating a salad. He liked the meat and two veg type of meal.
My MIL’s summer salad consisted of a slice of ham, a tomato and lettuce leaves and that included when the Bishop came for supper.

I really enjoyed an imaginative salad and with say baby potatoes no one can say it’s not filling.

My husband and I never eat the same thing haven,t for 40 years.I,m pescatarian with a twist I don’t eat bread ,potatoes rice or pasta…no tomatoes no fruit except for berries
OH likes meat off all kinds ,has mostly chicken but loves his roasts
He doesn’t cook so I cook meat for him.Last night he had lamb with rosemary and garlic potatoes and green beans I had a cheese omelette.
The adult children don’t eat lamb ,so sometimes it’s three different main courses.Our Son and his family last night had quiche..with bacon in it.Same veg as OH
My late mum did the same when we were young …she was a fussy eater and wouldn,t have expected us to eat something we didn’t like .It helps that I like to cook .

The lack of carbs is since a diagnosis of T2 diabetes which I got under control with dropping carbs.

My DH absolutely loved a salad. I hate them, no matter how carefully thought out and imaginative they are.

My husband likes a salad but does insist on potatoes.
Easy enough this time of year though with the delicious Jersey Royals in the shops now.
I just boil him a few of these and add them to whatever salad I’m having - doesn’t matter if it’s not in the recipe or whatever.
I think he was bought up on meat, potatoes and veg each day so this is a compromise. (He does like curry, Chinese etc, etc so no problem there).

I’m always thankful that dh will happily eat whatever he’s given, which lately does include a lot of salad. I usually add some sliced white cabbage, for the crunch factor, plus it keeps so well in the fridge.

I quite like to add a few chunky chips to my salad.😋

I like a ploughmans, with chips as well!
My lad declares regularly that he "hates" veg, salads and all the things he used to eat.

The men in my family are and were big fans of salads.
But our salads are rather adventurous-extremely varied and adventurous and always with a nice dressing .
As salads are light they enjoy a pudding afterwards- maybe that's part of the attraction !