people used what they had
in Canada in the 70s there was
1 kind of lettuce, 1 kind of carrot, 1 kind of cabbage, 1 kind of onion...
no such thing as olive oil... deli counters were limited, I could go on.
my husband's mom used to put chopped weiners in potato salad.
people made jellied salads (yuck)...
all the stuff we take for granted came starting the 80s.