“Seinfeld” was enormously impactful for a few generations. The sitcom’s heyday occurred during my young adulthood, back when television shows actually aired during prime time and you were either home to watch or set your VCR to record the episodes. Otherwise one had to hope the network would rerun the season so you could catch anything you missed. There was no streaming or binging, remember those days?
For me personally, the silly sitcom that was “about nothing” aired during a time in my life when I was independent and no longer living in my childhood home; I was free to watch whatever I wanted. “Seinfeld” definitely pushed the envelope on appropriate television subject matter and my parents would not have approved. But the show was not entirely focussed on sexual matters and some (a lot) of the episodes were just ridiculous. The scripts and characters invoked situations that many of us had experienced and couldn’t articulate, or considered too trivial to share with others. The impact of the show in my present life is that daily incidents continue to remind me of “Seinfeld” episodes!
Season 6, Episode 2: Jerry and Elaine encounter George and his date, Julie, who invite them to lunch. Jerry declines but Elaine asks them to bring her a Big Salad, and they have a little exchange in which George asks Elaine to explain the menu item, yada yada yada. The episode is largely concerning George wanting to receive credit for buying Elaine lunch. However, the lasting impact for me was the Big Salad.
Recently I pondered, where have all the Big Salads gone? You know what I mean…a plate-sized bowl of lettuce with lots of vegetables, cheese, and a protein, choice of dressing. This is not a side salad to complement an entree. The Big Salad IS an entree and I don’t recall ever finishing an entire bowl. There was a time when you could walk into any chain restaurant, local diner, cafe or eatery and find at least 5 different huge salads on the menu. I recall the Cobb Salad with fried chicken and Honey Mustard dressing from Black-Eyed Pea being a favorite. And the Caesar with Chicken from Humperdink’s introduced me to that classic in 1989.
The thought occurred to me—why do so many people order those big salads when they go out for a meal? Do women think the Big Salad is an acceptable choice for watching one’s caloric intake? Do men consider the Big Salad a healthy option? Most likely a big bowl of lettuce topped with hard-boiled eggs, bacon, cheddar cheese, strips of fried chicken and a rich creamy dressing is going to have nearly the fat content of a small filet of beef with vegetables. But I know why I am drawn and perhaps many others as well, to this menu option.
Salad is a labor of love. There’s a lot of prep involved, lettuce and vegetables to wash and chop, proteins to prepare, cheese to shred, dressings to measure and mix. When my family was young and dinner was a nightly home affair, we regularly had a fresh green (side) salad to accompany the main course. One of my friends once remarked that she hated making salad and would rather buy a bag of mixed lettuce, than chop all the veggies required. I think this is one of the reasons that many of us like to order the Big Salad when we’re out for lunch. It’s a treat to have this mountain of ingredients freshly prepared just for you.
I will continue to search for Big Salads on menus around town. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. 😉
Elaine and her Big Salad with Jerry at The Coffee Shop