The History of Caprese Salad

There are a few different origin stories for how the Caprese salad came to be. One of the most popular begins with the advent of the Italian Futurist movement in 1909. At the time, Italians were becoming fascinated with new technologies like automobiles and airplanes. The Futurists believed that art, literature, and food should evolve just as quickly and rejected anything traditional. When Futurist leader Filippo Tommaso Marinetti wrote Manifesto of Futurist Cooking, he specifically rejected pasta and blamed the food for holding Italians back. When a Futurist conference and art exhibition was held at the Hotel Quisisana in Capri in 1922, the chef needed something to serve that wasn’t pasta and came up with a deconstructed pomodoro dish that featured uncooked, sliced tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, olive oil, and whole basil leaves. The dish was a big hit with the Futurists as well as with other hotel guests. Over time, it came to be known as Caprese salad and became a staple offering in Capri hotels. It became particularly popular in the 1950s because Capri was a trendy destination for wealthy travelers at the time. Alternative origin stories for the Caprese salad include the theory that the dish was invented by a patriotic bricklayer from Capri who wanted to create a dish that featured the colors of the Italian flag and a theory that it was invented in the 1950s specifically to appeal to tourists seeking out lighter fare. Regardless of how it came to be, Caprese salad is now a staple at many restaurants all around the world and is also routinely made in many home kitchens, particularly in Italy and in areas of the world with a significant Italian immigrant population.