The Classic Salad Bowl Every '60s Kid Will Remember

Looking back on popular dishware from the past can invoke nostalgic feelings; you likely have fond memories from family gatherings or the holidays attached to certain pieces. For example, the classic wooden parquet salad bowl. If you grew up in the 1960s or '70s, you might remember it.

Decades ago, these wooden salad bowls were a kitchen design trend that brought a sense of nature indoors. The geometric pattern of a parquet design fit right in with boho décor elements. Despite this though, the bowl eventually faded out of style. But not necessarily because people tired of how the bowls looked.

The wooden salad bowl actually dates back to the 1930s and very specific advice about how the French prepared salads in unfinished wooden bowls, with the oils and garlic rubbing into the bowl, and eventually creating a "patina of a Corinthian bronze." This per a 1992 Los Angeles Times article by Charles Perry, who explained as well that pushback against this salad practice began in the 1960s.

Additionally, trends change, and consumers began to prefer bowls made of other materials, like plastic and glass. That said, a parquet-patterned wooden salad bowl is such a classic choice, you may still want to snag one (or a few in a set) for your own kitchen today.

If you want to add vintage parquet wooden salad bowls to your serveware, it's a good idea to avoid unfinished ones, which you may come across, even though per the LA Times article, most bowls at the time were still varnished, and actually needed to be sanded to become unfinished and "correct" for salad tossing. That said, if you want to just use the bowls for display in the kitchen or elsewhere in the home, unfinished ones are perfectly fine. In fact, you can turn them into a restoration project.

To score one of these vintage salad bowls, check out local thrift stores, or online at places such as Etsy and eBay; in your queries include terms like "60s," "1960s," or "50s," "vintage," or "midcentury" to filter out later decades or newer pieces. A Google search, meanwhile, will help you get a better idea of what shapes and sizes were made. For example, Bargeboard Mercantile & Millshop has this large 20-inch bowl for $80, while at the same time Etsy has a set of eight bowls of different sizes for $39.99.

Further, if you would prefer new parquet wooden salad bowls rather than vintage pieces, you have options. Reluen, for instance, offers a set of six parquet-patterned bowls that measure 8 inches wide and 2 inches high. This small size is better for serving side dishes, though. For a bowl large enough to toss salad in, and with a woven pattern, you might find something like this WebstaurantStore 20-inch bowl, which also stands 4 ½ inches high.

(Learn how to upcycle an IKEA salad bowl into a beautiful faux stone table. As well, see other vintage kitchen trends we'd love to see being used today.)