The Woman Who Turned Salad Into Art

Julia Sherman argues that artists reinvent the things we know and inspire us to pay attention to the everyday – in this case, the humble salad.

- Candice Chung

Julia Sherman can tell a lot about a person by what they put in a salad. “There are a lot of people who like a loophole salad, or what they say is a salad, but is full of things like bacon, cheese and avocado,” she says. “Those are the kinds of people who are always looking for a deal, who want value in everything.” Then there are the self-assured minimalists like Slow Food pioneer Alice Waters, who swears by a simple salad of garden lettuces, olive oil and salt. “Salads can work like a litmus test – they say a lot about you.”

If Sherman has the air of someone who thinks about vegetables way more than your average, it’s because the 34-year-old New Yorker has spent the past five years turning salad-making into a creative practice. In 2012, after graduating from Columbia University with a Master of Fine Arts, Sherman began documenting the salads she made while interviewing her favourite artists and thinkers about their creative lives. At first, it was a counterpoint to her studio work – a way to channel her frustration from the often isolating nature of the art world. But soon, instead of writing proposals and artist statements, she found herself writing grocery lists and spending more time planning elaborate meals. What started out as a side project eventually grew into her wildly popular blog, Salad for President.

Today, her début cookbook of the same name features more than 75 original recipes and interviews with artists such as Laurie Anderson, Tauba Auerbach and William Wegman. It’s about salad, but also its radical potential as an artistic practice.