"you don't like salad? what's wrong with you?"

haha yes, it's true...a vegetarian who does not like salad...it's supposed to be a fallback if you're out somewhere with nothing you can/like to eat, but not for me...I'm not complaining, I just find it kind of funny...I wonder if anyone else is odd like me...

and is there hope that someday I will eventually like things such as lettuce and tomatoes?? =P 

The way to learn to like something is by training your palate. Try some really fresh and seasonal ripe tomatoes sliced with basil and a little bit of fresh mozerella cheese (or just basil if you don't eat cheese). That is an excellent salad!

Or check out the variety of lettuces at the supermarket. There are all kinds and they all have slightly different flavors and wildly different textures. Soft bibb lettuce, crispy romaine, bitter endive, sweet red oak. Learn to enjoy the subtlies of these leaves and you will come to like salads. A bag of "baby leaf" is a good start, if you don't want to buy a whole head of lettuce.

Make your own salads to find out what they are all about, then suffer the boring ones you'll find at restaruants. At least you can remember the glory of the great ones you made at home while you munch insipid iceburg and hothouse tomotoes.

i'm not a big salad eater either. lettuce is just.. bler.

Hey, I didn't eat salad either, until I was about 13. I was vegetarian my whole life, but I lived on bread and cereal and other grains. :-/ I was really healthy, so it must've worked. I eat vegetables all the time now, though, so enough of my taste buds must've died for that to be possible.

I like lettuce and other greens in salad, but not all the time.  When I get tired of them, I have hot or cold steamed vegetables with sauce or dressing for a change.

You reminded me that I haven't had a salad in over a month... But I eat tons of veggies. Vegetable stir-frys rock! :)

I don't eat lettuce or celery or carrots, for the most part.

I make salads all the time using cucumbers, radishes, tomatoes, spinach, broccoli, sugar snap peas, edamame, artichoke hearts, etc.  To me, a "salad" is just cold and/often raw veggies with some sort of dressing. If you don't like lettuce, you might try spinach or some other healthy green ... or just make a salad without lettuce and tomatoes!

=^..^= MOLLY

It gets very old eating ONLY salads as a vegetarian. I don't usually eat out unless I'm getting vegetarian sushi or a mexican place where I can have beans in my salad. Maybe if you try forcing the veggies? lol; tomatoes grew on me after a while.

(get it? GREW on me? teehee..) 

Here's the thing - I don't LOOOVE salad, but I like it well enough, and I eat it before EVERY lunch and dinner, because honestly salad makes me FEEL better after I eat it.  It makes smaller portions that come after more filling and aids in digestion.  I eat mine with near-no-cal ponzu sauce and it's great.

 So maybe if you tune yourself into the good feeling, the feeling of well-being that comes from beginning a meal with a good salad (and make sure to have lots of variety in your salads) and maybe you'll start to like them more.  With me, I just love salad and my high-fiber breakfast cereals, because I love the feeling of good, regular digestion.

can i say something i shouldn't?  have you ever had REAL salad dressing?  i never liked salad either bec it's a diet food that i'd sprinkle w/red wine vinegar.  then one day i ordered a real salad from a restaurant and didn't tell them to hold the dressing.  jesus, yum.  fat really does make it taste better.  if i could have salad w/real dressing and not gain an ounce, i could live on it.

hm, i didnt like salad either until 4 years ago...

well im asian,so even lettuce we ate cooked, so no salads at our house :P

but for me, it took liking one type of salad, and then explanding to others after a while.. maybe u dont like garden salads... try caesar, or a slighlty wilted spinach salad, etc etc.

I don't "diet" anymore, but I was on an eating regimen (ok, it was a diet) for about a year that included 8 oz. of salad for lunch and 8 oz. for dinner. I tried every kind of salad recipe I could find, and got to where I couldn't look a salad in the face. Now, I can manage to eat a small one when I eat out, but other than that--no way! I have tried because I know it's so good for me, but I think I just ate it so much I got sick of it. Now I still eat lots of greens, but not in salad. For dinner tonight, for example, I ate whole wheat pasta with a spinach sauce over it. Or I like spinach in my tofu scramble. I eat tons of stir fry (don't know why I never got sick of that) or veggie curry. I figure if I am eating my veggies, it's ok not to eat them raw every time.

Plain iceberg lettuce and tomatoes are boring no wonder you dont like them. Try having more exciting salads, yesterday i had Rocket with grilled pumpkin and goats cheese. Try varying you salads, look at the ready made ones in delis and im sure youll realise there are so many more salads out there to choose from.

I agree - iceburg lettuce = boring  :/

And I've eaten a LOT of salads so sometimes I get tired of having them.

If you end up at a place like applebee's or outback or a place like that - they'll let you order a side of steamed broccoli and a baked sweet potato.  Most places are nice about accomodating peoples' unique diets.

I DO like the insalata blu at macaroni grill: baby spinach, butter lettuce, red onion, tomatoes, finely grated bleu cheese, and their awesome balsamic vinaigrette

I hated salad until I got to college and I learned to love the stuff.  I agree with other people, start with things you like to eat--brocccoli, peas, corn, mushrooms, green peppers...a salad isn't just iceberg lettuce and tomatoes! 

I love raw vegetables but recently have lost my love of lettuce (all types).  I am also super picky about salad dressing because most of them are just so strong! ( I do love Annie's green garlic though, yum)  My salads are mostly toppings (tomatoes, cucumbers, broccoli, peppers, peas, carrots..) and I put a bunch of spinach in my breakfast smoothie to balance it out. 

I used to HATE salad, and have just recently learned to enjoy it. What I hated most, though, is whenever I would say "There's not really anything for me to eat at this place" people inevitably say "Sure there is, there's SALAD!"

ugh.

Lately I actually really like Caesar Salad. I love garlic, and I love parmesean cheese, and put them on top of most any vegetable and I'll eat it. And I agree with udokier - I feel healthy when I eat a salad. It makes me feed good.

I also agree with you, lil-fish, and I don't like raw tomatoes, onion, cucumbers, etc, so garden salads are really not for me. But I'll eat romaine lettuce with croutons, cheese and dressing, especially if it's in a wrap or pita. Bread makes everything yummier. I also used to get "veggie whoppers" at Burger King, before they had actual soy patties there, and it was just veggies, condiments and bread. Because it was in a sandwich, I liked it - but I would never eat those fillings out of a bowl.

haha I used to like salad. Till people started always feeding me salad since they couldn't think of anything else to give me. I'll eat it occasionally if there is absolutely nothing else to choose from (which is often at family get-togethers, where my bf's side of the family are basically carnivores) but there is NEVER salad stuff in my house. 

I HATE salad, sOo much. yuck

I'm a vegan and not a salad eater either! I do eat greens and veggies, but cannot eat typical american salads (iceburg lettuce, 2 slices tomato, ranch dressing)....ICK! I've learned to like salads when I know how good they are for me...I usually include mesclun greens, mushrooms, red bell pepper, cucumbers, tomatoes, brocco sprouts, almonds, tons of kidney beans and chick peas, and some really good vegan honey mustard dressing! I look forward to it cause I always feel so energized and healthy afterwards!

i love salads, but i have to have a ton of things on my salad for me to find it remotely interesting. (NOT iceberg) lettuce, good tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli, cucumber, sprouts, artichoke, beans of some kind, red or yellow peppers, black olives, shredded carrots, etc...also, the dressing helps immensely. i do love ranch dressing, but it's extremely fatty. there are some great low-cal italian dressings out there. also, annie's naturals goddess dressing is about the most amazing thing ever, but same problem as the ranch, it's fatty.

i love eating salads, and even if i do eat them with a bit of fatty dressing, i can still rationalize it by telling myself it's better than 99% of meals at restaurants in terms of calories, fat, and definitely nutrients. good luck!