It’s not American. It’s not from Italy. The most famous salad in the world, the caesar, was invented in Tijuana, Mexico, precisely a century ago.
This week, prominent chefs from across the world are converging on Tijuana for a four-day festival celebrating 100 years of the caesar salad, a global staple created in the glamorous Prohibition-era Tijuana of the 1920s. A hundred guests are participating in a re-creation of the Fourth of July party at which the caesar salad was first prepared for a group of visiting Americans. There will be a book launch for a volume celebrating the global reinventions of the salad, from Sweden to Spain to Japan, and happenings at local restaurants across the city. Celebrity chefs including José Andrés, Dominique Crenn and Karime López will make appearances.
For purists, it’s still possible to order the original caesar salad – romaine lettuce with a dressing made from raw egg, olive oil, lime, garlic, parmesan and other flavorings – prepared tableside by a formally dressed waiter at Caesar’s restaurant, the Tijuana establishment founded by Caesar Cardini, the Italian immigrant to North America widely credited with having created the caesar salad.
