Salumi starred in a composed salad along with pressed mozzarella, roasted peppers, cherry tomatoes, pickled banana peppers and vinaigrette last Wednesday in the Berkeley College dining hall.

A salad unto itself, this antipasto melange paired well with lettuce, a traditional salad staple, to create a double salad, or salad upon salad, or a meta salad. A meta food is the opposite of chicken noodle soup: the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts, but rather the same as its parts, transformed.

No longer able to conceive of salad in a straightforward manner, I staggered towards the dessert bar and compacted chocolate cake into my face. I came to my senses and exited the dining hall wordlessly.