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When we think of food in the past, it is often images of Henry VIII with a table groaning with meat dishes that springs to mind. But in fact our ancestors knew more about the health benefits of eating salads – normally thought of as a cold dish of herbs or vegetables – than we might think. By looking back to the sustainable self-sufficiency of the past, we find there is a lot we can learn about the variety of the historical salad dish, which costs next to nothing, has no carbon footprint and might even be beneficial to our health. The diarist, writer, and gardener John Evelyn (1620-1706) pursued his interest in salads in the mid-to-late 17th century. His model both defined the dish very broadly and showed how you could live on home-grown salads all year round. To Evelyn, the ideal kitchen garden was full of vegetables and fruits that could be grown simply and in great variety. Evelyn even published a whole guide to growing and preparing salads, Acetaria, A Discourse on Sallets in 1699. The words “sallet” came into English from the French “salade” in the 1300s and was in common use by the 1600s. In Acetaria, Evelyn promotes a low-meat diet, insisting that those who live on herbs and roots live to a ripe old age. He cites classical philosophy to back up his arguments about the “the Whole∫omness of the Herby-Diet” – citing Plato and Pythagoras as examples of great thinkers who banished “flesh” from their tables. Evelyn was not interested in converting people to vegetarianism as such, declaring: But this is not my Bu∫ine∫s, further than to ∫hew how possible it is by so many instances and examples, to live on whole∫ome vegetables, both long and happily. In the past year, gardening and growing vegetables has enjoyed a resurgence as a family-friendly, outdoor pastime that can also help ease concerns over food shortages. While becoming totally self-sufficient is unlikely, Evelyn’s Acetaria has some tips that the green-fingered grower can use to feed their families and some advice that could help expand their harvests in an unlikely way. The Gardener’s Year The centrality of salads to the diet in Evelyn’s manifesto is underpinned with the verse from Acetaria: Bread, Wine and whol∫ome Sallets you may buy, What Nature adds be∫ides is Luxury. While the rhyme refers to buying salads, Evelyn points out that such plants are easy to grow, have no fuel requirement in their preparation, are near at hand and importantly easy to digest. And nature aids all sorts of things, as highlighted in another work of Evelyn’s, Directions for the Gardener, written about his garden at Sayes Court in southeast London. This book contained helpful hints and tips for growing produce for the kitchen table. It’s not just the expected salad items such as cucumber and lettuce that Evelyn remarks on though. He offers