More bizarre restaurant news from the great state of New York.(banning salt)

[Peacetrain]

Banning smoking is a good thing, because smoking affects people around the smoker not just the smoker..but banning salt, or fats, or sugars.. is ludicrous. That is a persons personal choice.

I can get behind restaurants, fast food places etc, having nutrition information up for everyone so you know exactly what you are in taking.. but banning.. ish kabittle

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/dining/reviews/blog/2010/03/new_york_restaurant_salt_ban.html



More bizarre restaurant news from the great state of New York.

Earlier this week, we heard about a Chelsea chef making cheese from his wife's breast milk.

And we're thinking, "Why isn't a food cop ever around when you need one?"

Instead of going after bodily fluids in foods, the food police are up to something else: banning salt from restaurant meals.

"No owner or operator of a restaurant in this state shall use salt in any form in the preparation of any food for consumption by customers of such restaurant, including food prepared to be consumed on the premises of such restaurant or off of such premises," the bill states, according to a reports from various news outlets.

[SharonRB]

1. That's just nuts.

I can see offering items with no salt, but taking salt completely out of every recipe makes no sense at all.

[Peacetrain]

4. Yep I just heard Dylan Ratigan talk about it, so I had to google and find out

if someone would actually be that off the wall. Well there is..

[Richard D]

2. !

Now that's crazy.

[Peacetrain]

5. ah yep! nt

[Warpy]

3. No salt in preparation sounds like a decent idea to me

especially since most restaurant food tastes oversalted to me. Salt should be at the table and diners should suit themselves.

I'm sure chefs with exalted opinions of their own palates will disagree with me, but that's their problem.

[Peacetrain]

6. I am all for nutrition guides and being able to order food sans salt.. but to ban it

if food prep through government guidance. Over the top

[Warpy]

9. Lots of things are done in large quantity to be used during a service

so yes, it would be great to eliminate the salt in the prep.

Baked goods, as I noted below, should be exempt.

[CBGLuthier]

7. You understand nothing about the cooking process.

Salt is a required element in so many processes that this idea is either a hoax or just plain stupid.

Adding salt after the food is cooked is entirely separate from seasoning that must be done during cooking. Certain chemical processes only work with salt.

[Warpy]

8. Rubbish

While salting veggies as they are sweated will hurry the process, leaving them unsalted won't stop the process.

I do think, however, that baked goods should be considered separately. I can't imagine sprinkling my slice of chocolate cake with the small amount of salt that should have been incorporated prior to baking.

[ThatPoetGuy]

17. No, he's right... you know nothing about the processes

Adding salt to water will raise the boiling point of the water, which changes the cooking time and saturation level of pasta, among other things. Salt's a necessary ingredient for baking bread; bread gluten won't structure properly without it, in the leavening process.

I would love to see a lot less salt used in cooking, but the bill, as stated, is insane. Or a hoax.

[slampoet]

19. +1

[Warpy]

22. Adding salt to water does NOT raise the boiling point

appreciably. Look it up some time. I did. That's one of those silly old wives' tales in cooking that just isn't true. You'd have to saturate the solution to raise the boiling point more than a few degrees and then you'd have an unpalatable mess on your hands.

Check it out at http://itotd.com/articles/521/water-freezing-and-boiling-myths/ The small change in boiling temperature has NO effect on what you're cooking in that water.

However, if you'd bothered to read a bit farther down, you'd discover that I did exempt baking from this. You can't sit and salt your chocolate cake, it would taste like crap no matter what.

[cali]

16. yep. you get it.

[Mimosa]

11. Your idea would kill most Asian cuisines. LOL n/t

[Warpy]

14. I think they could argue in favor of soy sauce

as an integral part of the dish.

They'd have a tougher sell with MSG.

[Gman2]

21. Low sodium soy tastes FAR BETTER.

[Warpy]

24. You bet it does! Even Japanese soy sauce is better

with more flavor and less salt than most Chinese brands. Some of the Chinese stuff I've tasted is like brown sea water. Blech.

[cali]

15. well, I'd never call myself a chef, though I do cook professionally

and I'm telling you right now, I couldn't produce palatable food without salt. You can't bake a decent loaf of french bread without it for one thing. Salt added by chefs in restaurants is really not the problem. Processed foods are. I would quit cooking rather than have to do without salt.

[Xenotime]

25. True. This is an overall good thing for America.

[Mimosa]

10. What about soy sauce and fish sauce?

What a ridiculous bill.

I do find most restaurant food too salty. BUT I have the option to ask for less salt in preparation and i do.

BTW, many people who use too much salt also oversalt at home.

[JerseygirlCT]

12. That's nutty.

Salt is a useful seasoning. There's a reason we've been using it since... well, forever.

As you say, knowledge of what you're eating is one thing. Banning salt is another entirely.

[Mimosa]

28. A good article about the benefits of sea salt

I don't understand all the stuff about endocrine chemistry which my doctor pal knows but he told me that people used to get something called goiters from using non-iodised salt or not enough salt.

http://www.saltistry.us/id78.html

People who care about our own health know that many folks tend to use too much salt, sugar and fats. We can educate ourselves about sound nutrition. Government should only concern themselves with food sources being safe and clean. We don't need stupid legislators telling us what and how to eat. New York state's budget is in the red and THAT is what the clowns are concerned about?

[JerseygirlCT]

29. I like sea salt

We also use kosher salt and use less. One of my doctors a while ago looked at my very low blood pressure and said "you like salt? Eat salt"...

As you said, I think we're capable of making that decision for ourselves.

[Mimosa]

32. I have low BP too! n/t

[progressoid]

13. Maybe they are afraid of the Salt Vampire

[Gman2]

18. People will soon use less salt, and it will taste the same. That is how salt works.

[Gman2]

20. Also, the is how restaurants make food taste better than yours. Bogus.

[Liquorice]

30. That's very true. nt

[ibegurpard]

23. I can't imagine that this bill would pass

[jsmithsen]

26. Independents

There is a strange idea that Independents are small government libertarians. Bloomberg represents Independents as much as anyone. This is pure "big government". All political tendencies have their fantasies of the good life and will use government to impose them on others. Manhattan's Yuppie Tyranny.

[Kat45]

27. Are they trying to rid NY of the restarant industry?

If salt isn't used in food prep, the food will end up so tasteless that nobody will want to eat it. The restaurants will no longer have customers, then there will no longer be restaurants.

[Shell Beau]

31. Don't many ingredients used in cooking have salt?

This is over the top. WAY over the top. Make salt free dishes for those who don't want it.

Well I can say that is one good thing about the south, the food will stay yummy. I can never see a ban on salt happening here. Our food may be fatty, but it is DAMN good. Everything in moderation is my motto.