Insalata Caprese or caprese salad is a traditional Italian salad made with some of the favorite Italian ingredients – tomatoes, mozzarella and fresh basil. This dish is a global symbol of Italian cuisine, especially because its ingredients create the Italian flag on a plate – greens of the basil, whits of the mozzarella and reds of the tomatoes join to make famous il Tricolore.

Caprese salad originated, as its name suggests, on the island of Capri. However, there are several theories about the creation of this dish. According to one, Caprese salad was created by a very patriotic bricklayer who in the 1920s, after World War I, wanted to create a dish that was a tribute to his beloved country, so he made a sandwich stuffed with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil. The other sources state that this dish was invented at the “Quisisana” hotel in Capri as a tribute to Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, an Italian writer and poet, who was the founder of the futurist movement at the beginning of the 20th century. Marinetti often criticized traditional Italian cuisine, calling it “too heavy and boring” and searched for creative culinary originality. So in the 1920s, during his stay in Capri, the Caprese salad appeared on the menu for the first time. According to the third theory this dish was created by a chef of a Gatto Bianco (the White Cat), the jet set hotel in 1950s Capri, for one of its guests King Farouk of Egypt. King Farouk ruled Egypt from 1936 until 1952 when after a military coup he was overthrown and forced into exile. For his exile, he first chose Monaco, then went to Rome before settling in Capri. The legend has it that after his morning swim he asked the chef to prepare a very fresh dish for him. The chef chose to make a salad with delicious regional products he had in his kitchen. Nevertheless, it quickly became a very popular dish, eaten across Italy and the world.

The traditional recipe for Caprese salad has some rules – handmade Mozzarella di Bufala should be used – the larger the piece of mozzarella the better, as the quality of the flavor is directly proportional to its size; only fresh tomatoes that are neither unripe nor overripe should be used, and basil should be broken by hand and not with a knife, as to avoid metal taste from the knife. It should be seasoned with good Italian extra virgin olive oil, but not too much of the oil is needed, as the Caprese salad must be neither too dry nor too liquid.

Today there are a lot of variations of Caprese salade, including the ones with balsamic vinegar, oregano, olives, arugula or even Parmigiano Reggiano. Our favorite is still the classic version, in which we just substituted mozzarella with vegan mozzarella. This tasty, colorful dish can be eaten any time of the day, but it is the best meal option for a hot summer day.