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An ongoing debate exists in the culinary world as to the history of (and to an extent the ingredients of) Caesar salad. It really isn’t all that surprising, considering the subject matter is as prominent as it is ubiquitous. You can find the “authentic” Caesar salad recipe that we use here. The first popular theory starts us off in 1903 Chicago.

Follow up:

At that time Americans (and Italian-Americans) did not indulge nearly to the current extent in foods like pasta, pizza, and other “traditional” Italian items. As such a chef, named Giacomo Junia invented the salad to serve along with his other popular American fare at a small restaurant in Chicago. Purportedly, this is the entry in the 3rd edition of Webster’s New World from accidental hedonists’s post:

Caesar Salad is so named in honor of (Gaius) Julius Caesar by Giacomo Junia, Italian-American chef in Chicago, who invented it c. 1903.

Of course I cannot verify this, as I do not own or otherwise have access to a third edition Webster’s New World (dictionary?). This opinion seems to be buttressed by one George Leonard Herter in his book Bull Cook and Authentic Historical Recipes and Practices, Volume II

Caesar salad was invented in about 1903 by Giacomo Junia, an Italian cook in Chicago, Illinois. Giacomo Junia was the cook in a small restaurant called The New York Cafe. He catered to American tastes as spaghetti and pizza in those days were little eaten by anyone including Italians. It is sometimes falsely stated that this salad was invented in Tijuana, Mexico during the prohibition period and also in San Francisco. Nothing could be further from the truth. The only thing invented in Tijuana were the finest methods every produced to clip tourists.

Giacomo Junia called the salad Caesar Salad. He put a few pieces of Cos lettuce (romaine) in the salad to add a slightly bitter touch to it. . . Giacomo called the salad Caesar Salad after Julius Caesar, the greatest Italian of all time. . . . Junia never thought that the salad would be popular and was more surprised than anyone when people began to ask for it. Many itinerant cooks learned how to make the salad and soon it was made all over North America and even in Europe.

Sounds like somebody is fairly certain they have their facts straight, no? A much more popular belief is that the dish was actually invented in Mexico and named for chef Caesar Cardini, who may have invented it at his restaurant in the 1920’s in Tijuana. The story goes that on July 4th, 1924 Chef Caesar facing a rush of customers and a limited pantry, whipped the salad up out of leftovers to the delight of the crowd. I usually don’t buy into food “history” anecdotes like this, but it is certainly possible that the dish was invented there around that time.

Mexico in the 1920’s was a hopping place. Many American’s fled across the border to escape the stranglehold of a booze-less (or at least legal booze-less) prohibition era USA. As to the Mexican tradition, I engaged the assistance of the always insightful Mexico Bob. He writes:

The only thing I can tell you is that if I had to vote I would vote that it happened one way or another at the Hotel Peñafiel near Tehuacan. In the twenties, thirties, and forties it was THE place to be for movie stars and other movers and shakers. It is also the place where most people think the Margarita was invented. Peñafiel is regarded as the oldest mineral water bottling company in Mexico. It was founded by the Peñafiel family in Tehuacán, Puebla, around 1928. The hotel is where people went to “take the waters” and the hotel preceded the mineral water business… I have many old books on Mexico and the Hotel Peñafiel figures so prominently in them that I think anybody who was anybody in those days would go there to see and be seen and the chef would have been a signature chef and very inventive and flamboyant.

Some believe that the salad was actually invented by Caesar’s brother Alex, who was Chef of Hotel Peñafiel in Tehuacán. From Wikipedia:

Cardini, the son of an Italian immigrant, made the Caesar Salad specially for a gourmet contest in Tijuana, winning first place with his innovative dish.

Some historians believe that the salad was created for a group of Hollywood stars after a long weekend party. Still others suggest that brother Alex created it as “Aviator’s salad” for a bunch of San Diego aviator comrades who were in a hurry, and the dish was renamed later, when Alex was a partner of his brother

Interestingly, it is Alex’s “Aviator” salad that is credited with the addition of anchovies. It is said (again, I can’t seem to get the guy on the phone to confirm) Caesar himself was staunchly opposed to their use and relied upon the Worcestershire sauce to add just a hint of their essence. It is possible that Caesar created the salad? Yes. Is it possible that Alex stole his salad, added anchovies, and they jointly renamed it from “Aviator” to “Caesar” salad as a marketing ploy? Yes. Could it have happened in the opposite order, Alex creates, Caesar steals - absolutely. Could Caesar have invented the salad, prompting Alex’s creation of a similar salad with anchovies? Of course. Does the fact that most published recipes now call for anchovies mean that our “authentic” Caesar salad is close to, but not quite the original, or a copy thereupon, etc. etc. ad nauseam. Caesar Cardini went on, in 1948, to established a patent on the dressing which was named, “Cardini’s Original Caesar dressing mix,” now distributed along with several other Cardini branded dressing by the Marzetti Company.

It is highly doubtful that it will ever be proven either way. A fairly decent culinary reference, some of you may have heard of: Julia Child, does however at least lend some credibility to the ingredients in Caesar Cardini’s salad. She recalls eating it as a child and goes on to describe the experience and her research in From Julia Child’s Kitchen:

One of my early remembrances of restaurant life was going to Tijuana in 1925 or 1926 with my parents, who were wildly excited that they should finally lunch at Caesar’s restaurant. Tijuana, just south of the Mexican border from San Diego, was flourishing then, in the prohibition era. . . Words spread about Tijuana and the good life, and about Caesar Cardini’s restaurant, and about Caesar’s salad.

My parents, of course, ordered the salad. Caesar himself rolled the big cart up to the table, tossed the romaine in a great wooden bowl, and I wish I could say I remembered his every move, but I don’t. They only thing I see again clearly is the eggs. I can see him break 2 eggs over that romaine and roll them in, the greens going all creamy as the eggs flowed over them. Two eggs in a salad? Two one-minute coddled eggs? And garlic-flavored croutons, and grated Parmesan cheese? It was a sensation of a salad from coast to coast, and there were even rumblings of its success in Europe.

Almost 50 years later, when we decided upon Caesar Salad as one of events for our program “Kids Want to Cook,” I had, as usual, studied all the sources and found, as usual, there was no agreement among any of them. I evolved what most appealed to me but it lacked a certain authenticity, and it had no drama. Then my producer, Ruthie, suggested we try to locate someone from that era who knew Caesar and really knew that salad. Was there anyone? Indeed there was, Ruthie found Rose Cardini, his daughter, was living in the Los Angeles area, and was the head of a successful spice and salad dressing business. I had a long Boston-to-Los Angeles telephone conversation with her, taking copious notes. She was born five years after her father created his masterpiece, she said, but she knew every detail because it had been so much discussed and remembered.”

There is one last thing to mention, there is also some debate as to whether the citrus juice used was lemon or lime. When Julia Child re-created the recipe (link to her recipe on Epicurious.com) she pretty much authoritatively sealed the deal on the use of lemon juice despite the contention by others that only green limes were available in Mexico at that time. This is oft attributed to an error in translation. My money would be, barring the dressing being invented in Chicago in 1903, that the original carnation of the dressing was made with limes. A helpful tidbit on the subject, again from Mexico Bob:

Here in Central Mexico we hardly ever see what you call a lemon. When we do they call it “limón real” (lee-MOHN rey-AHL). What we do have is limes (sing. limón pl. limones) and it is a poor table indeed that doesn’t have limes available. I would bet that they used limes with the original ceasar salad.

So what have we learned today boys and girls? Well for one, don’t order lemonade in Mexico. But equally if not more important, the most accurate answer would be that despite some factual evidence it is almost impossible to ascertain exactly what and or where the Caesar salad came from or who invented it. If we were playing Clue (Cluedo to our international friends) my accusation would be: one of the Cardini brothers, in Mexico, with a lime… and if you are playing with a real stickler (like my mother) Alex Cardinia, at the Hotel Peñafiel in Tehuacán, with a lime.