Okay… I think I just discovered a Slovenian culinary conspiracy. 🤯😂
The most heard sentence in our household is probably, “I’m hungry, what’s for lunch?” and yes, sometimes those words come from my mouth too, but the winner is definitely my husband. 😂 I mean, it’s not like he makes the whole lunch decision complicated, but somehow there is always a very long process before lunch actually appears on the table. First, we have to decide what we want to eat, and believe me, sometimes this decision can take hours. We discuss, we suggest something, then we change our minds, then we go back to the first idea, and after what feels like a full business meeting, we finally decide what we are going to eat.
And then, when I’m finally ready to start cooking, I check the fridge and, of course, the ingredients we need are not there. Because why would they be? 😂 So now we have another important decision to make...are we going to eat something completely different, or are we going to the shop to buy the missing ingredients? And obviously we are going to the shop, because by the time we finish deciding what to eat, it is already almost dinner time anyway. 😂
But today was different. The moment I opened my eyes, I turned to my husband and told him, “I want French salad.” No discussion, no voting, no two-hour family meeting. I knew what I wanted.
And my husband was like, “Okay… make it.”
But then, of course, he had to add: “If you are making French salad, I want Wiener schnitzel too.”
And I mean… fair enough. He has the right to have an opinion too, right? 😂
So I said, “Okay, baby, no problem. Let’s do it.” Or, better said, I’m going to do it, because guess what? I actually wanted to cook today. 😊
And I’ve been making this salad for so long that I don’t even need a recipe anymore.
Yes!! I have reached French salad expert level. 😂😂😂
So first things first… LET’S GO SHOPPING!
And that’s when the whole story became weird.
I went to look for the frozen vegetables I normally use for French salad, which are basically carrots, potatoes and peas, and I thought this was going to be the easiest part of the whole shopping trip. But then… I couldn’t find them. I looked again, checked another freezer, and then another one, but nothing. And I started thinking, wait… what?
In Slovenia, you can literally buy frozen vegetables made specifically for French salad. But here in Austria?
Nope. Gone. Disappeared.
Very suspicious. 🤨 Or let’s say...interesting. And you know what **“interesting”* means?
HISTORY TIME! 😉
But let’s leave that for the end. (HAHA, now you have to read the entire article if you want to solve the mystery)
Since I couldn’t find the normal frozen mix, I bought something similar...frozen summer vegetables. There was only one small problem… there was something white inside. I had no idea what it was, so I read the name and still had absolutely no idea. 😂 Then I translated it, thinking that would finally solve the mystery, but guess what? I STILL didn’t know what the hell it meant in my own language! 😂😂😂
Apparently, it was parsnip, which is a root vegetable related to carrots and parsley.
HAH...Every day we learn something new. How fun. 😂
But I didn’t want parsnip in my French salad because then it wouldn’t taste like the French salad I know, so I did what any professional chef would do...I simply picked out all the white pieces. And because I was already in the mood for quality control, I also picked out some of the bigger pieces of carrot.
Problem solved.
Okay… ## LET’S MAKE THE SALAD! 🥔🥕🥚
Ingredients:
- 500 g frozen mixed vegetables (carrots, peas and potatoes)
- 1 Granny Smith apple
- 5-6 pickles
- 4 hard-boiled eggs
6 heaping tablespoons of mayonnaise
2 tablespoons pickle juice
1 teaspoon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
Preparation:
First, boil the vegetables in salted water and let them cool completely. While they are cooling, peel the apple and cut it into small cubes, then dice the pickles and the hard-boiled eggs. Once everything is ready, put the vegetables, apple, pickles and eggs into a big bowl. In a smaller bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, pickle juice, mustard, salt and pepper, then pour the dressing over everything and gently mix it all together.
Then put the salad in the fridge for at least two hours so all the flavors can get together and become one happy little family. 😂
And that’s it! Seriously, it’s that simple.
And now…LET’S EAT!
Except…no...I still had one question in my head.
WHY CAN I BUY FROZEN VEGETABLES FOR “FRENCH SALAD” IN SLOVENIA BUT NOT IN AUSTRIA?!
Something was fishy here. So naturally, I did what every normal person would do: I asked Google.
And that is when everything became even more interesting.
I started looking at recipes for French salad, and recipe after recipe looked completely different from the Slovenian version I know. I couldn’t find a single recipe that looked exactly like ours, and suddenly I started wondering…why?
Well…BECAUSE IT’S THE ULTIMATE CULINARY LIE!
The great French Salad scam
The salad we call French salad in Slovenia is actually connected to Russia, not France. The story goes back to Moscow in the 1860s, where a chef named Lucien Olivier created a very luxurious salad.
And when I say luxurious, I mean REALLY luxurious. This was not our simple bowl of potatoes, carrots, peas and mayonnaise. Oh no. The original version was made with expensive ingredients like wild duck, caviar, crawfish and even bear meat.
BEAR MEAT!!! 🐻
Meanwhile, today I am standing in an Austrian supermarket trying to find frozen peas and carrots. 😂
So how did this crazy expensive Russian salad become the everyday “French salad” we know today? Well, history happened. After the Russian Revolution, many of those expensive ingredients became difficult to get, so people started replacing them with cheaper and more available ingredients. Potatoes, carrots, peas, mayonnaise… and slowly, the salad became something much closer to the version we know today.
But somehow Slovenia looked at all of this and said: “Yeah… we’re calling it French.” 😂
And honestly, we made things even more confusing. Because in Slovenia we also have Russian salad.
And what is the difference?
Well… if there is no meat, it is French salad.
Add some ham? BOOM! Suddenly it is Russian salad.
😂😂😂
I mean… at this point, I think the salad itself has an identity crisis.
It was born in Russia, got a French name, travelled around Europe, and then Slovenia gave it its own completely confusing identity.
Poor salad.
So next time you sit down at Christmas, New Year's, Easter, a birthday, a barbecue, or basically any Slovenian family gathering where someone brings out a giant bowl of mayonnaise…
Remember...You are probably not eating French salad.
You are eating a salad with a Russian history, a French name, a chef with a French-sounding name, and a Slovenian identity crisis.
And all of this started because I couldn’t find frozen vegetables in an Austrian supermarket.
THANK YOU, AUSTRIA.
You didn’t have my French salad vegetables, but you gave me a history lesson instead. I learned what parsnip is, I learned where my “French” salad actually comes from, and I also discovered that apparently adding ham can completely change its nationality.
What a productive shopping trip. 😂
Anyway, the salad was made, my husband got his Wiener schnitzel, I got my French salad, and everybody was happy.
And now I finally know the answer to the most important question of the day: Is French salad actually French?
No.
😂😂😂
But honestly…I don’t care. It’s delicious.
So… LET’S FINALLY EAT 🥔🥚🥒❤️
With love, @tinabrezpike ❤️
