If you didn’t manage to guess the name of this dish, it is obviously we who are at fault, and not your extensive archive of culinary know-how! The imagery we are using here might at first seem to fit symbolically but only as a play on words. In fact, this dish has nothing to do with the Roman General and Ruler at all.

Apparently, this nutritious salad with its aromatic dressing actually owes its name to the Italian Cesare Cardini, who left Italy for Tijuana in Mexico with his brother Alex. There they opened a restaurant called ‘Caesar’s Palace’ which was very popular with American guests.

The story goes that on 4 July, the American Independence Day of 1924, so many Americans turned up to eat, that the kitchen couldn’t cope with all the orders. Cardini, not wanting his guests to be disappointed and leave, decided to stage a show to entertain all those present. With much dramatization, in the restaurant with all his guests delightedly watching, he created a new salad with lettuce leaves, croutons and parmesan, and added completely new ingredients to his dressing. He was probably one of the first people to have held a cooking show and his guests must have really believed that the salad was a secret recipe – they loved it, and ensured that ‘Caesar’s salad’ became a world-wide success.