No, it was not fed to the Roman Caesars. The most consistent story is that Caesar Cardini, an Italian-born Mexican restaurateur, invented it on a Fourth of July 1924, when he ran out of supplies for preparing something else.

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One of the thoughts regarding the invention of the Caesar Salad is that Caesar Cardini and his brother, Alex came to the United States following World War One, and settled in San Diego. But because of Prohibition in the U.S., the brothers decided to open a restaurant in the nearby city of Tijuana, Mexico. On July 24, 1917, the restaurant was busy and supplies were running low. So Caesar made a salad with the ingredients that he had on hand, and, as if it were something very special, prepared the salad at the customer's table. This is the claim made later by Caesar's daughter, Rosa. l

But, according to Alex Cardini's granddaughter, Alex concocted the salad for some of his Air Force friends after they woke up after a night of heavy drinking and partying. He called the creation the "Aviator's Salad". But over time, she believes, it evolved into being called "Caesar's Salad."

But the dispute doesn't end with the brothers, Livio Santini claims the recipe as his own, (well, actually his mother's), and maintained that the Cardini brothers stole the recipe from him.

Another claim is that Giacomo Junia,an Italian chef in Chicago put the salad together in 1903 and that he named it after another great Italian, Julius Caesar.

Julia Child sides with Rosa. She went to that restaurant regularly when she was a child and remembered Caesar, himself, making the salad at her table. It's actually a fingerfood, using the whole romaine leaves as holders.

So there is no definitive answer, but it seems to have come on the scene in the early 1900's.

The origins of the Caesar salad dates back to 1924 in Tijuana, Mexico. It is believed to have honored Caesar Cardini (1896-1956). During the busy fourth of July there was a shortager off food in Carini's kitchen, so he used leftovers to create a salad to serve to his customers. The original recipe consisted of romaine lettuce, garlic, croutons, Parmesan cheese, boiled eggs, olive oil and Worcestershire sauce. The salad was prepared at tableside, the romaine leaves coated with the dressing, placed in a circle and served on a plate so the diners could eat with their fingers.

In 1926, Alex Cardini, a pilot for the Italian Air Force during World War I, joined his brother at the Tijuana restaurant. He added ahchovies to the salad and renamed it Aviator's Salad. It became quite popular and later this salad was renamed Caesar Salad. Caesar did not like the inclusion of achoves and he wanted to used only Italian olive oil and imported Parmesan cheese in the dressing.

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