That’s a funny quote, and true in the western tradition of multi course dinners. I’ve made salad for some of my Chinese family and friends, and they loved it - you have to have good sauce and local ingredients, like tofu or taco salad esque beef. Heavy sauce, for the tofu, like Vietnamese oyster sauce. Boiled corn. It works, but it’s a pain.
I just think it’s something that hasn’t had its full chance to shine in the sun, but I’m probably wrong and ignorant. Some liang cai is probably the most I will ever see