Did Caesar Invent the Caesar Salad?

A Caesar salad ready to eat.

Many people wonder whether Caesar salad's origins lie with Julius Caesar, or it acquired the name some other way. While a man named Caesar played a role in the salad's invention and popularization, he was not the famous Roman leader.

Time Frame

Caesar salad is a 20th century invention, well after the time of Julius Caesar, who lived from about 100 B.C. to 44 B.C., according to the Columbia Encyclopedia. Food History website states that the Caesar salad was first created in Tijuana, Mexico, in the 1925, when a chef created the salad out of what little ingredients he had left to feed some hungry customers, a group of American pilots.

Potential Inventors

Credit for inventing the salad usually goes to Caesar Cardini. Snopes website attributes the salad only to him. However, the salad is also sometimes attributed to his brother, Alex. The Food History site raises this possibility. Caesar and Alex ran the restaurant where Caesar salad was first served.

History

Food History reports that Caesar salad was originally called aviator salad in honor of the pilots for whom it was prepared, but as it grew in popularity both brothers began calling it Caesar salad.

References

• "The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition"; 2008
• Food History: The History of Caesar Salad
• Snopes: Caesar Salad Daze