Moving along the dial

There’s an expression they use in the radio industry that refers to the careers of radio presenters called ” moving along the dial ” which means that as they get older they transfer to different radio stations catering to different age groups and markets. It appears that old radio presenters never die they just move along the dial and I reckon the same is true of many restaurant dishes. Moving along the dial doesn’t mean that the presenters get any better, it just means the market gets what it deserves and it’s the same with food.
Caesar salad is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. At one stage Caesar salad was prepared tableside and could only be found in the finest of fine dining rooms but gradually it started to migrate to middle of the road restaurants and once the idea hit critical mass then it could be found everywhere. Today you can get a Caesar everywhere from TGIF to McDonalds and even in some fire stations I’m led to believe and you can of course buy a ready bottled Caesar dressing in the supermarkets, unfortunately bearing no resemblance to the original.
Give the people what they want, they know what they like. If that’s the case then I’m sure the next big salad to move along the dial will be the current darling found on many restaurant’s menus in numerous guises but usually incorporating goat’s cheese, lightly toasted , rocket, beet leaves or other baby leaves, spiced nuts of various persuasions, roasted pears and nut oil or sweet fruity vinegar type dressings. Of course as it migrates it will lose a lot of the original flavour and quality of ingredients but maybe cheddar cheese cubes and peri peri peanuts will work with iceberg lettuce, tinned pear slices and imitation raspberry flavoured malt vinegar. Who am I to argue with what the people like ?