Thank Yous

To get here—to one cohesive book of stories, recipes, and tidbits about salad—it took a lot (a lot) of people’s individual talents and ideas and opinions. Without any of these folks, the book would be missing a little flare. So for that:

Thank you, immensely, to EmilyC: We know your real name is Emily Connor, but we will always call you by your Food52 username. We measure all of our salads to the standards yours set, so getting thirty new recipes from you is like hitting the jackpot. We’re grateful for your endless spunk, your excitement for this project, your enviable precision, and, simply, for making this process really fun.

Team Salad, also known as the Food52 editorial team (Kristen Miglore, Ali Slagle, Sarah Jampel, Kenzi Wilbur, Amanda Sims, Caroline Lange, Samantha Weiss-Hills, and Leslie Stephens): We’ve always managed to turn out pretty okay salads together with whatever’s left in our respective fridges, so of course you wrote great headnotes and scouted great tips. Kristen and Sarah also know how to show off a salad’s best sides—and style it before it wilts. They, too, are the soundboard and support system that kept Ali smiling as she kept this show on the road.

We’re in awe of the creative cats James Ransom and Alexis Anthony, whose eagerness to try new things; commitment to telling a singular, beautiful story; and patience as the food stylists played with baby greens gave this book its dynamic feel. Alexis, your thoughtful art direction is apparent in every photo, and James, you’re a magician (you know what we mean). Thank you also to the kitchen—Josh Cohen and his team Allison Buford, Scott Cavagnaro, Elena Apostolides, and Shannon Elliot—for cooking salad and not cooking it when the stylists wanted to, and to Carmen Ladipo, prop police and overall invaluable helping hand.

Thank you to Amanda and Merrill, for letting us do our salad thing in book form and encouraging us to have more fun and make bigger messes (within reason!!). And to the rest of the Food52 team, champions of not sad desk salads: It’s all your under-the-hood work that lets this book be its best self. You are evidence that people do take care to make a salad, so we hope you buy this book for everyone you know! You, too, Amanda and Merrill.

To our troupe of testers, led by Stephanie Bourgeois—Angela Barros, Anna Francese Gass, Emily Olson, and Kate Knapp—thank you for treating salad like the precise science it isn’t. Thank you also to CB Owens, proofing as precisely as the best.

Gratitude goes to everyone at Ten Speed Press, for knowing that salad is a topic deserving of a whole book and the center plate. It must be the Berkeley in you.

If it wasn’t for our community, this book probably would’ve been exclusively quinoa, farro, and kale salads. These people are the ones who dreamt up salads so mighty, we crave them. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us on Food52 and now in this book: Abbie Argersinger, Arielle Arizpe, Jeannine Balletto, Annaliese Bischoff, Mark Bittman, Nancy Brush, Christine Burns Rudalevige, Canal House, Josh Cohen, Dorie Colangelo, Emily Connor, Nicholas Day, Jennifer Engle, Sarah Fioritto, Phyllis Grant, Suzanne Goin, Emily Nichols Grossi, Shannon Hulley, Ideas in Food, Shruti Jain, Sarah Jampel, Sara Jenkins, Amanda Hesser, Catherine Lamb, Hunter Lewis, Paula Marchese, Kristen Miglore, Aleksandra Mojsilovic, Helen Morille, Ann Taylor Pittman, Barbara Reiss, Ali Slagle, Elizabeth Stark, Merrill Stubbs, Kenzi Wilbur, and Caroline Wright.

To show our appreciation, in a most fitting of ways, we made a recipe for you (we couldn’t make a book without a dessert).

Berry Salad with Brioche Croutons (and a Side of Thank-You)

Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Cut 4 large slices of brioche into bite-size cubes. In a baking dish, combine the brioche with a handful of chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts—your pick). Drizzle with 1 to 2 tablespoons of honey and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake until golden, about 7 minutes. Let cool, then store in an airtight container for up to 4 days. When you’re ready for dessert, toss whatever berries you like with some raw sugar (that is the “dressing”) and divide among 4 bowls. Top with the brioche croutons and be merry.