Marye Dahnke (pronounced Mary Dank) was an employee of Kraft Foods Co. who showed tremendous potential. She eventually became Director of Consumer Service and served for almost forty years. The book describes her as a true creative artist, who made salads her profession as well as her hobby. She described salad making as “wonderful fun for everybody.” Dahnke was known for her inventive recipes to make each meal something to look forward to, by "dramatizing” what goes into the meal. She believed that each salad and its combination of different ingredients should have its own dressing, depending on what was in each of her salad recipes.

All of the recipes in the book are Dahnke’s creations. Of them, many were her favourites, including the Asheville Salad (recipe is available under 'Recipe Cards'). She describes where she gets her inspirations for her recipes in the following quote:

“It’s simple! All I need to do is just walk through a super-market any time. In every department, as I see the wonderful displays of greens, fruits, vegetables, meats, seafoods, fresh foods and frozen and canned foods – salad-makings, every one of them – I dream of a hundred new salads!” While the success of the cookbook is not identified anywhere, Dahnke received great praise for her creative recipes. This is noted in the introduction of the book.