[nottorp]

> Often all you need is olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and you're set for most salads.

Why do you need a "dressing"? In my corner of Europe they put the above by default on every restaurant table and the salad has nothing in it (or maybe a tiny bit of oil and vinegar), you adjust it to taste.

The only places that offer salad "dressings" are american inspired and even those mostly serve it separately so you can ignore it.

[BobaFloutist]

For the same reason you add some spices before cooking, and salt multiple times throughout a recipe.

Plus, it's a little hard to emulsify or even suspend the oil and vinegar right there at the table.

[barbazoo]

> or maybe a tiny bit of oil and vinegar

That's what I mean by "dressing". We're talking about the same thing.

[nottorp]

Ah well, above us they seem to call mayonnaise and other fat and high calorie stuff "dressing"?

[skyyler]

Mayonnaise alone is used to dress salads, and mayonnaise is used as the base for many more elaborate salad dressings. The famous American "ranch" dressing is basically mayonnaise with buttermilk and allium and herbs added.