I definitely agree, but grandfathering in this specific exception suggests a definition variant: a salad can be mixed and shuffled (possibly from an ordered initial state), and in this case it remains a salad; it isn't damaged, and on the contrary it usually improves (typically by increasing the entropy of solid component positions and distributing liquid condiments more uniformly).
I think you've nailed it here. I had a really good wedge salad last night. The advantage of a wedge salad is that the blue cheese stays on top evenly distributed. On many salads it'd drop to the bottom and be less evenly distributed. The untossed salad is more evenly mixed than the tossed one, and both would be improved by more entropy.
Part of the appeal of the wedge salad is the crispiness of the lettuce. So if you improve it with more thorough mixing, you'd have to consume it immediately before the crisp is lost. I don't think this is incompatible, just a nuance.
This becomes more obvious with a layered salad -- layered salads seem designed to keep ingredients separate in the presentation container, but get mixed together in the transition to the plate or dipper.
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I think you've nailed it here. I had a really good wedge salad last night. The advantage of a wedge salad is that the blue cheese stays on top evenly distributed. On many salads it'd drop to the bottom and be less evenly distributed. The untossed salad is more evenly mixed than the tossed one, and both would be improved by more entropy.
Part of the appeal of the wedge salad is the crispiness of the lettuce. So if you improve it with more thorough mixing, you'd have to consume it immediately before the crisp is lost. I don't think this is incompatible, just a nuance.
This becomes more obvious with a layered salad -- layered salads seem designed to keep ingredients separate in the presentation container, but get mixed together in the transition to the plate or dipper.