Ventura Foods, LLC
plant food
Colorful vegetables, including roasted
beets, pair with tangy goat cheese in
this salad.
Vegetable salads—packed with lots of nutrition and some
intriguing ingredients—deserve a place on the menu.
By Suzanne Hall
The National Culinary Review | May 2011
FROM asparagus to zucchini, beans
to summer squashes, Mother Nature
provides a cornucopia of vegetables to
add color, flavor and texture to salads.
Vegetable salads allow customers to
add an extra dose of nutrition to their
mealtimes, and are in keeping with
chefs’ continuing interest in using grilled
and roasted vegetables and heirloom
varieties on their menus.
Vegetable salads are by no means
the hottest trend among consumers.
In fact, “We actually have noticed
that side salad sales are down,” says
Paul Bulman, chef/senior category
marketing manager for Ventura Foods,
LLC, Brea, Calif., a manufacturer of
salad dressings, oils, sauces and other
products. Because of the economy,
“people want to treat themselves to
dinner out, but they’re cutting back on
side dishes, appetizers and desserts to
cut down on cost.”
Chef Paul Fiorentino, Ventura’s vice
president of culinary and operator
support services, notes that there’s less
interest in developing new vegetable
entrée salads than there was several
years ago.
