Berries: "Berries are the best fruit!" — Dr Greger. Buy 4-5 dried berries (optionally, mix them together), soak them overnight. By morning, they are jam-like. Invest in fresh berries if we have $ to spare. Berries make any preparation extra flavorful: salads, soups, sandwiches, …

Where to buy berries? See Berries: Where to Buy in USA? Dried berries available on Amazon: goji berries, mulberries (white, black), cherries (sweet, sour), golden berries. Berries available in Mediterranean stores: barberries, jujubes. Berries available in other online stores: sugar-free cranberries. Plus fresh & frozen berries are found in local stores & Costco. Where to buy berries from?

Tomato + cucumber + peppers: Over time, add as many veggies as possible, starting with tomato + cucumber. Some day, try tomatillos instead of tomatoes. Next, experiment with peppers: there are so many peppers in the market: shishito peppers, sweet peppers, banana peppers, regular bell peppers, jalapeño, …! Mexican grocery stores also sell a variety of dried peppers and dried pepper powders: ancho, guajillo, puya, .. Experiment with them to see if these dried peppers or dried pepper powders appeal to you.

By this time, the salad is already so flavorful! We can keep changing the berries and peppers and herbs & spice mixes for a new salad every day! :) But we can develop it further:

Juicy veggies: When our taste buds are accustomed to the salad prepared above, introduce more mildly-sweet, non-hard and juicy veggies: ivy gourd (can be eaten raw), jicama (look for fresh jicama; most jicama in the market is dry), celery (a good source of 'saltiness' in SOS-Free meals), ridge gourd (very tasty; eaten raw), snake gourd (can be eaten raw), chayote, squash, zucchini and other mildly sweet veggies. We can mince or grate such veggies.

Alliums: Introduce some sweet onion and a few pods of raw garlic (finely minced or smashed). Onion and garlic are among the most powerful anti-cancer veggies. So I consciously add a bit of both. The allium family has scallions, leeks, chives, yellow onion & red onion too! Some day, we can try these alternatives instead of sweet onion.

Odd tasting veggies: Experiment with small amounts of odd tasting, non-sweet veggies like radish. Along the same lines, consider introducing wasabi, mustard, horseradish — all of these are similar tasting veggies from cruciferous family. We can make these pastes or dips at home and keep them in the fridge for many days. Only a little bit suffices to spike up taste. We get salt-free mustard on Amazon. Next try winter melon (bitter gourd) or other odd tasting veggies in small quantities.

Hard veggies: Finally, look into 'hard veggies' like sweet potatoes, carrots, beets, parsnips and hard squashes. All of these can be eaten raw: grated but we don't really need them in salads. If not following a 100% raw vegan system, consider softening them first with steaming or simple microwaving, then grate them or mince them. If following a cooked food system, these veggies can be part of a cooked recipe.

Frozen foods: Two are handy: green peas and sweet corn. Both add interesting color and flavor to raw salads.

High quality knives: Please buy two high quality knives. I've stayed at many Indian friends' places - almost nobody has good quality knives at their homes - even the richest of people I've stayed with don't seem to invest in good knives. For raw vegan salads, two knives suffice: a utility knife, and a nakiri (Japanese knife for veggies). We may visit a knife store to assess what size and brand fits our hands best. Please buy a honing rod and learn how to use it to keep knives sharp - honing is different from sharpening. And invest in a good quality grater. Buy a good quality cutting board too: teak is great.

Enjoy the time spent in kitchen preparing food - it's a relaxing activity 🙂 Then enjoy salad in the sun 🙂