What are the pros/cons of serving the salad dish before/after the main dish?

For a fairly typical thread on this, see: http://www.thekitchn.com/cultural-differences-salad-bef-65008

The so-called reasons I see listed here are consistent with what I found in several different internet discussions of the issue, none of which are scientificially or academically credible:

• Restaurants serve salad first because it is easiest to get out on the table
• At home, eat the entrees first while they are hot
• Eat salad last so that the roughage helps digestion
• Eat salad last so that the stomach acids are not diluted for the entree

Note that the last two are kind of non-sensical. They sound great as folk science, but in the course of a single meal, it will all end up together in the stomach, as the digestive process is not so fast that the courses end up moving through the system in sequence like cars in a railroad train in sequence over the track.

Then again, some like to serve it with the main part of the meal.

I am sure this is just a matter of cultural expectation.

It's interesting that the two main choices you've asked about are before or after the main entrée course. In my experience in England and in continental Europe (Spain, Italy, France etc.) the salad is served as a side dish alongside the main or entrée course and is intended to be eaten alongside this course sometimes in place of some form of vegetable dish.

The only time I've come across a salad being served before the main course is when it's intended as a starter to the main course, in which case you probably wouldn't then have a salad as a side dish.

I've never come across a salad being served after the main course, except as a fruit salad!

Perhaps it's a cultural difference between North America and Europe but if I was ever served a salad after the main or entrée course I'd be asking whoever served it to me, why and I would find it most unusual.

Many consider salad a secondary food in the hierarchy. You can eat more meat if you skip the salad, or eat it last.

If you eat salad first (without 100% fat drizzled salad dressing) you fill your stomach with fewer calories by volume. Your total caloric intake could possibly be reduced by eating salad first.

Living in Spain I've always seen serving salad first, and then the main(s) course(s). And I don't remember having seen it been done other way in Italy nor by Italians.

The reason might be simple: try to eat a whole dish of salad. Can you eat a steak after that?

Then do the opposite experiment: eat a whole dish with a large steak. Can you eat a bit of salad after that?

The only reason I can find to eat a main dish first is when timing of preparation or/and temperature of serving are crucial (maybe as with pasta al dente or fried eggs & French fries)

A serious con of serving it separately is that if the food is spicy, or hot, you can't use the salad to wash off the excess of heat - you must depend on drinks (...and if the drink is hot too?)

Other than that, you take the choice away from your guest: they may choose to eat the salad first or last, or mix it with the main course, or spread eating it evenly with the main course - if you serve it after only later after the main course, you took this option away.

OTOH, salad is often readily available at restaurants where food is prepared as you wait. In this case I find early arrival of the salad welcome if I'm hungry - simply, less waiting for any food.

So, summarizing:

• early salad: only advantages; guest can delay eating it. Just don't take it away as you bring the main dish.
• same time: okay, unless you make hungry guests wait and provide no snacks of any kind.
• late salad: bad. Really no good reason to serve it that way. If the guest wants to eat the salad last, they can just leave it for later, it won't get cold. If they burned their mouth on hot main dish, they won't be too happy about "better late than never". If they like mixing tastes, you took that choice away.

I don't know if you're still watching this question, so I'll be brief. A Salad course after the main meal tends to only be during full course meals - I.e. four or more courses. It is meant to be a light green salad after a large roast dinner (usually) to cleanse the palate before dessert, which may include both a sweet dessert (cake, torte, etc) and cheese (with fresh fruit and biscuits/crackers).

I'm not aware of any benefits to having a salad before or after a meal other than this - and I've not seen it outside of a formal dinner.

Also, you would not see it outside of Europe. I know it as a traditional a British thing.

Whenever I have dined at someones home in France we always had salad at the end of the meal. Their reasons were that salad went well with the cheese that was also served at the end of the meal.

If your salad has a standard vinaigrette then it makes sense to have it at the end of the meal because the vinegar acts as a digestif.

In eastern Europe, we would have salad first because my father will have his aperitif (alcohol) before he starts eating his meal and as a "mezze" he will snack on a salad. It is customary to "open" your appetite with alcohol starter and salad, then you continue with your meal. Or if alcohol is not consumed then you eat your salad along with your main course.

Actually, I had the same question and I found on https://swirled.com/why-eat-salad-last/ what I was expecting.

It aids in digestion.

These cultures believe that when you’re consuming a large meal over a period of several hours, it’s best to eat salad near the end of the dining experience to give your digestive system an added kick of fiber at the ideal time. The roughage supply of vegetables helps, ahem, keep things moving along as they should. So if big meals tend to leave you all sorts of constipated and uncomfortable, switching up that salad timing could give you some much-needed relief.

I have yet to determine if it is true but it makes sense to me.

Born and raised in Montreal. We always had our salad last with a plate of cheese and fresh berries, grapes to choose from. Whether is was a formal dinner or just our average daily dinner. Today, I place the salad on the table at the start of the meal, which allows you to do what suites you. With so many cultural differences today, there is no proper answer. I still eat my salad at the end of the meal.