this is tangential to the general thread of salad and weird food culture, so i’m just going to leave it as a reply to your comment.
I grew up in the south in the USA. I’m, therefore, southern. Ergo, I grew up with southern cuisine.
Fast forward to my mid thirties. I now live in France. I invited some of my non-southern and non-american friends over for a thanksgiving dinner one year. I served fruit salad, as one does, on the side of dinner. Apparently that’s weird. Nobody else eats fruit salad as a dinner side except southerners, apparently. Also, the non-americans were weirded out by eating cranberry sauce on the bird.
The famous ikea swedish meatballs come with lingonberry marmelade on the meat, so it’s not unheard of
I read that in the voice of the hippie from that 70s show. I hope it’s close to yours, kind stranger.