Outside Greece, "Greek salad" may be a lettuce salad with Greek-inspired ingredients, even though the original dish is distinguished by the absence of lettuce. Meanwhile, the variant without lettuce may be called horiatiki, 'peasant salad', or 'village salad'.
However in most European countries, including the UK, the dish broadly resembles the original, albeit often with non-Greek substitutions such as another cheese since feta cheese enjoys protected designation of origin status.
In an American-style Greek salad, lettuce, tomatoes, feta (often served in multiple cube-shaped cuttings mixed with the vegetables), and olives are the most standard elements, but cucumbers, peperoncini (pickled hot peppers), bell peppers, onions, radishes, dolmades, and anchovies/sardines are common. Regional variants may include unusual components, e.g. in Detroit, beets, and in the Tampa Bay Area, potato salad. Dressings containing various herbs and seasonings are frequently used in the U.S. These styles of Greek salad are rarely encountered in Greece.
Various other salads have also been called "Greek" in the English language in the last century, including some with no apparent connection to Greek cuisine. A 1925 Australian newspaper described a Greek salad of boiled squash dressed with sour milk;[4] a 1934 American newspaper described a mayonnaise-dressed lettuce salad with shredded cabbage and carrots.[5]
maintanouri (μαϊντανούρι; a parsley salad usually used as a condiment)
Cypriot salad,[6] native to the island of Cyprus, consists of finely chopped tomatoes, capers, cucumbers, onions, flat-leaf parsley, feta cheese, dressed with olive oil and lemon or red wine vinegar, and closely resembles the "Greek salad" of Greece.
Greek salad as served in other countries. The main differences are the serving of the feta cheese in multiple cube-shaped cuttings instead of a single rectangular-piece and the more liberal supply of onion.