Jennifer Aniston loved her salad so much during FRIENDS that it became her everyday lunch for 10 years and got crowned as The Jennifer Aniston Salad! But a good story always comes with a twist.
The viral Jennifer Aniston Salad
If there is one name that doesn’t need an introduction, it’s Jennifer Aniston!
Jennifer Joanna Aniston became a household name after she appeared as Rachel Green in the worldwide iconic sitcom FRIENDS. One of the biggest reasons for Rachel’s fitness was Jennifer Aniston’s everyday Cobb salad that she ate for lunch when she was starring in FRIENDS for 10 years.
Yes, the same Cobb salad that had gone viral on TikTok, so much so that it had garnered a mind-numbing 10+ million views!
TikTok users recreated Aniston’s salad using ingredients like – diced cucumber and red onion, quinoa, chopped pistachios, mint, parsley, crumbled feta, and an entire can of chickpeas (or, garbanzo beans). The dressing that goes over it is a mix of olive oil and lemon juice.
However, and we hate to break the news, that viral salad was not what Aniston exactly ate. In an interview with Elle, Aniston debunked the myth about the viral salad.
‘It looks like a delicious salad…but that’s not the one I had on Friends.’
The REAL Jennifer Aniston Salad
Jennifer Aniston ate her Cobb salad on the sets of FRIENDS every day for lunch for a decade and that’s how it got the title – The Jennifer Aniston Salad!
In a video from Allure, Marley & Me actor herself lists out the ingredients of her salad –Iceberg lettuce, chopped tomatoes, salami, garbanzo beans, crunchy turkey bacon, chicken and pecorino cheese topped with Italian dressing. Her eyes were sparkling on salami.’
On garbanzo beans, she cautions her fans.
‘Too many garbanzo beans is a little bad for your tummy. For mine personally.’
Then she calls the finished salad ‘gorgeous’ and ‘I would eat this!’
She also specifies the origin of the salad in the beginning. ‘It was basically the salad was from the commissary and it was a Cobb salad that we basically butchered.’
In the 2010 interview with Los Angeles Times, Courtney Cox labelled it as ‘Doctored up Cobb salad’ because it has turkey bacon and garbanzo beans.
Aniston never ate the viral Jennifer Aniston TikTok Salad
It’s because of the massive attention that the viral salad had cinched on TikTok that Aniston felt terrible debunking the frenzy around it.
‘I feel terrible because it’s literally taken off like crazy.’ Safe to say, this was the twist she never saw coming.
In December 2020, Aniston shared another version of her salad as she talked up the recipe as an easy lunch.
‘My perfect salad – Bulgur, cucumbers, parsley, mint, red onion, garbanzo beans, feta cheese and pistachios.’
Users’ alterations to Aniston’s Cobb salad
Variation is what makes one go about food. Many fans have tried out The (real) Jennifer Aniston Cobb Salad and have fallen in love with it.
At the same time, they have also suggested a few substitutes, alterations if you may:
- Bulgur wheat instead of quinoa
- Other variants of fresh herbs like chives, thyme, cilantro (instead of mint and parsley)
- Roasted almonds or toasted pecans (instead of pistachios)
- A milder cheese like parmesan (instead of feta)