Whatever happened to Grandmother's Summer Salads?

"Salads are to the appetite what mirth is to the melancholy."

John A. Campbell, Chef, 1894

I collect (among a ca-jill-ion other things) antique cookbooks and recipe pamphlets. The other day while looking through a selection of advertising pamphlets from the late 1890's and early 1900's I had a revelation - prior to the turn of the 20th century salads were only served at hotels, fancy parties and elaborate dinners! This was immediately followed by the realization that many of those dishes are seldom if ever served anymore. Why?  They were prepared using the freshest of ingredients complimented with homemade dressings and not that it was that big a deal back in the day but they were almost all totally gluten-free! Why? Over the next week or so I am going to try several of these recipes with the intent of discovering why they didn't survive the evolution of our culinary taste buds! The results, of course, will be shared with you.