History and Recipes of the Caesar Salad: 100 Year Anniversary
Jack Marquette
Marketing Intern
Origins
It’s unique that a dish can have a birthday on a special occasion or holiday. In this case, Caesar salad can join that short list. On a 4th of July night in 1924, the Caesar salad was created in Tijuana, Mexico. It is expected that a dish like this would be created in America or Italy. While those countries are still a massive reason for its existence, it will always be a dish that originated in Mexico. The city of Tijuana, Mexico is right on the border of the United States and Mexico and served as a hotspot for American citizens during probation.
July 4th, 1924
To celebrate the birth of their country, American citizens flocked to Tijuana to legally enjoy alcohol in another country. At Caesar’s Palace Hotel in Tijuana, Italian immigrant chef, Caesar Cardini was overwhelmed by the holiday partiers. To get food out quickly, he grabbed olive oil, parmesan, egg, Worcestershire sauce, and lettuce thrown together and tossed in a big wooden bowl. The Caesar salad was now invented and already a big hit. The picture to the right shows the current table side salad at Caesar’s Hotel today. They still take pride in what they have created and have kept it the same as it originated.
Evolution
The original restaurant on Avenida Revolución still stands and is open for business, but the original Caesar salad has been changed and altered to create alternative versions of the salad. There will always be the original, but many additions such as bacon, maple syrup, prosciutto, and even oyster mushrooms have been added by different chefs. Ultimately, Cardini stresses that even if the dish was created in Mexico, it is still an Italian dish. The more other chefs add, it is still an Italian dish and there will always be the original. Below are some Caesar salad recipes we want you to try.