Tabouli is a herb salad, mostly parsley with a little bulgur, dressed in lemon and olive oil. Fattoush is a vegetable salad defined by crisp pita and sumac. Armenian salad is a fine chopped lettuce, tomato and cucumber salad in lemon and olive oil. Three different plates, and people mix them up all the time.

We hear the confusion often at Salma’s Kitchen, so here is the plain version.

What is the difference between tabouli and fattoush?

The quickest way to tell them apart is to look at what the salad is mostly made of.

Tabouli is mostly parsley. It is a green, herb forward salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and mint, and only a small amount of bulgur wheat as the minor partner. The dressing is simply lemon and olive oil. It tastes bright, grassy and clean.

Fattoush is mostly vegetables, and its signature is the pita. Pieces of pita, either fried or toasted, get tossed through so they stay a little crisp, and the salad is seasoned with sumac, a tart red spice that gives fattoush its lemony, slightly sour edge. Parsley might be in there, but nobody would call fattoush a herb salad.

So: tabouli leads with parsley and bulgur, fattoush leads with vegetables, crisp pita and sumac.

What is Armenian salad, and how is it different from Israeli or shepherd’s salad?

Armenian salad is a fine chopped salad of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and red onions with fresh herbs, dressed in lemon and olive oil. The character comes from the chop and the dressing, not from anything exotic. Everything is cut small and even, and the lemon keeps it fresh rather than sharp.

People often cannot tell it apart from Israeli salad or Turkish shepherd’s salad, and honestly the family resemblance is real. They share the same base of tomato, cucumber and onion cut fine. The usual differences come down to two things: whether the dressing leans on lemon or on vinegar, and which herbs go in. Our version uses lemon rather than vinegar, plus fresh herbs, which is what gives it the softer, rounder flavour we grew up with.

If you want the fuller picture of how our plates fit together, our menu guide walks through it.

Is it spelled tabouli, tabbouleh or tabouleh?

All three. Tabouli, tabbouleh and tabouleh are the same salad, just different ways of writing an Arabic word in English. You will see tabbouleh on a lot of menus and tabouli on others, and neither is wrong. We spell it tabouli, and that is the Tabouli Plate you will find on our menu.

Is tabouli healthy, and what does the parsley to bulgur ratio have to do with it?

The honest answer is that it depends on how the salad is built, and the parsley to bulgur ratio is the thing to watch. A proper tabouli is mostly parsley with just a handful of bulgur, so what you are really eating is a big bowl of fresh herbs and vegetables dressed in lemon and olive oil.

Some versions flip that around and become mostly grain with a little parsley on top, which is a different, heavier salad. We keep ours herb forward, the way our family has always made it, so the parsley is the star and the bulgur is the accent.

Which of these salads contains gluten?

Tabouli contains gluten, because bulgur wheat is a wheat grain. Fattoush usually contains gluten too, since the pita in it is made from wheat.

Armenian salad, as we make it with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, herbs, lemon and olive oil, has no wheat in it. If gluten is a concern for you, the Armenian Salad Plate is the straightforward choice, and it is always worth telling us when you get in touch so we can point you to the right plates.

Which salad should I order with grilled meat?

For a plate of grilled kabab or shish tawook, tabouli is the classic partner. The lemon and parsley cut through the richness of the meat and reset your palate between bites. It is the pairing most people picture when they think of a Middle Eastern grill.

Armenian salad is the easygoing, crowd friendly option, lighter on herbs and simple to eat alongside rice and dip. If you are ordering for a table with a range of tastes, it tends to please everyone. Both of our grill meals already come with rice, salad and a choice of dip, so you get one of these salads either way.

Have a look at the full menu or place an order with us here in the Fraser Valley. If you are still sorting out the dips, our guide to hummus, baba ganoush and muhammara is a good next read.

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