The 5-Ingredient Salad Natalie Portman Ate For Breakfast, Lunch, And Dinner As A Kid

Natalie Portman is an iconic American actress, but like many great Americans her story did not begin on these shores. Portman was born in Jerusalem to Jewish parents, and all of them left Israel for the U.S. when she was four years old. But the family didn't leave all the ways of the Old World behind, including — of course — food.

On an episode of Dish Podcast, Portman joined its hosts for a wide-ranging discussion about food, including common dishes from her childhood. Portman quickly jumped to a simple chopped salad with a few ingredients. "My mom was just constantly making that salad," she laughed.

The childhood salad, according to Portman, was "usually just cucumber and tomato. Sometimes parsley, but often just cucumber and tomato with lemon, olive oil, salt. And it's just all we eat, all the time, every meal." All of these are common salad ingredients in the Mediterranean basin — think a fattoush salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, and parsley — and they're likely staples for Portman's Israeli family.

Natalie Portman is famously vegan, meaning her diet excludes animal meat and products, including cheese, yogurt, and other items commonly found in Mediterranean cuisine. However, the Mediterrranean diet is a way of life that's already heavily focused on seasonal produce for rich flavor. A typical Mediterranean dinner is not necessarily as animal-dependent as, say, a classic American meal.

Mediterranean food is therefore very easy to make vegan-friendly. Check out these five recipes for heart-healthy vegan Greek and Mediterranean dishes, like a classic red pepper hummus that is naturally vegan or a vegan spanakopita recipe that uses rice instead of feta cheese.

Portman isn't the only American actress connected to both salads and Mediterranean ancestry. Jennifer Aniston's viral daily salad inspired our tabbouleh-like salad recipe, tweaking her plate with cucumbers, parsley, an olive oil-lemon dressing, and more. Aniston's father, a Greek immigrant and actor in his own right, likely would have recognized many of these flavors from his youth, similar to Portman's salad memories today.