WHAT IS A ‘SAVAGE SALADS’ SALAD?

The Savage Salads team believes that salads should taste amazing, look beautiful and leave you full.

Salads were once thought of something boring served on the side of your main meal, a half-hearted attempt at being ‘healthy’. They used to be (and occasionally still are!) a sad mix of iceberg lettuce, cucumber, a few slices of tasteless tomato and, if you’re lucky, a sprinkling of tepid tinned sweetcorn.

Thankfully, things have come a long way. Restaurants are now serving incredible and inventive salads, shops are stocking exciting, international ingredients, and there’s been a great shift in our attitude toward eating fresh, wholesome and healthy foods.

We’re all open to international influences from the Middle East, South America, Scandinavia and beyond, meaning tinned sweetcorn should be the last thing you reach for. Instead, get stuck into salads mixed with chickpeas, olives, black beans; and top your nourishing dishes with pickled herring, serrano ham or a skewer of lamb.

In our experience, though, there’s still a lingering notion that salads can’t be truly satisfying and can’t deliver the protein of a ‘real’ meal. It’s the Savage Salads mission to quash that idea and prove that salads can be enticing, wholesome, filling and packed with protein. To do this, we sell proper salads from our London stall – keeping people full from lunch until dinner – and we’ve written this book packed with real salad meals.

And what is the difference between a salad and a ‘savage salads’ salad? Interesting flavour combinations, being creative with the many and varied grains that are available, and not being afraid to add red meat, chicken, fish, cheese, nuts and seeds to turn a salad into the main event of the meal. This book isn’t for crash-dieters and vegetarians: we want to inspire people to eat well because good food is delicious – any health benefits are an additional bonus.

We’ve also kept the ingredients and methods simple, because everyone should feel confident and comfortable throwing our recipes together – from our five-minute salads to dinner-worthy dishes, these are recipes that are easy to prepare and fun to eat and share.

The book is arranged by season, because at the heart of our food is our belief that the best meals come from the freshest ingredients. Salads used to be for summer, stews for winter. Not any more. A winter salad of nourishing grains, enlivened here and there with bright segments of clementine or sharp, sweet pomegranate seeds, is every bit as satisfying on a cold day as pie and mash.

It also means the recipes are suited to people’s needs and cravings throughout the year. In the summer chapter, you’ll find light and refreshing salads using a lot of raw ingredients; in winter, cooked root veg and comforting combinations demonstrate that salads can be a pleasure all year round.

Seasonal ingredients, exciting flavours, irresistibly good: this is healthy food the Savage Salads way.