poke salad

Noun (1)

poke salad (countable and uncountable, plural poke salads)

1. A food made from boiled pokeweed leaves, which are poisonous unless cooked properly.
   • The Harvard man went back into the kitchen and sat down at a rickety table covered with a red-checked oil-cloth. On it were spread the spoiled ham, a dish of poke salad, a corn pone, and a pot of weak coffee.1921, T. S. Stribling, Birthright
   • Whereas to most people, “salad” is made with raw greens, “poke salad” shoots and greens must be cooked, the cooking water changed and discarded several times. […] There are many documented deaths from eating improperly prepared “poke salad.”2013, Carole J. Skelly, Dictionary of Herbs, Spices, Seasonings, and Natural Flavorings, Routledge, →ISBN
2. (Appalachia, Southern US) Pokeweed, the leafy plant used to make such a dish.
   • If some of ya'll never been down south too much / I'm gonna tell you a little bit about this / So that you'll understand what I'm talking about / Down there we have a plant that grows out in the woods, and the fields / And it looks something like a turnip green / Everybody calls it polk salad1968, Tony Joe White, “Polk Salad Annie”, in Black and White
   • (see more at pokeweed)

   Synonyms:

   poke, pokeweed, pocan

Noun (2)

IPA/ˌpoʊ.keɪ ˈsæləd/

poke salad (countable and uncountable, plural poke salads)

1. A Hawaiian food made from diced raw fish, seasoning, diced fruit and vegetables, and sometimes rice.
   • […] a wide range of creative seafood dishes (the Hawaiian-style poke salad with ahi tuna is a local favorite).2017, Fodor's Southern California: with Los Angeles, San Diego, the Central Coast & the Best Road Trips, Fodor's Travel, →ISBN

   Synonyms:

   poke bowl