SpiceLines

In today’s New York Times, Kim Severson reports that Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, commissioner of New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, has taken aim at salt, possibly my most cherished daily addiction. (See “Throwing the Book at Salt,” Wednesday, January 28, 2009, pp. D1 and D5.)

Dr. Frieden, commissar of Manhattan’s food police, won the artificial trans fat and calorie count wars by coercing restaurant chains into axing artery-clogging trans fatty acids and posting calories on their menus. Now he’s trying to twist the collective arm of the food industry, “encouraging” companies to cut the level of sodium chloride in the saltiest processed foods by 25 percent in five years, and another 25 percent in ten.

By doing it slowly, he figures consumers won’t notice.

And if manufacturers don’t toe the line? “If there’s not progress in a few years, we’ll have to consider other options, like legislation,” he told Severson. As New York goes, so goes the country.

Enough is enough. Yes, I’m sure we could all do with less salt of the “invisible” kind, the hidden stuff that food processors use to “create structure in breads… emulsify the ingredients in bologna and American cheese, and [keep] pathogens at bay.” Canned soup is awfully salty, as are the tastiest crackers and most bottled pasta sauces. In fairness, that is what Dr. Frieden is complaining about.

Even half a cup of the “organic” low fat cottage cheese I ate for lunch has 304 milligrams of sodium, 12 percent of my daily quota of 2,300 milligrams. (And I sprinkled a little flaky Malden sea salt over the cherry tomatoes I ate with it.) That daily quota is the equivalent of one teaspoon. Most of us eat twice that.

But here’s the thing: Salt makes food taste delicious. It coaxes the flavor out of pallid tomatoes, brings out the essential “chickenness” of chicken broth, heightens the sweetness of a ripe summer watermelon. I can’t imagine giving up the chunky Sicilian sea salt, delicate fleur de sel or the ancient, seaweed-flavored Japanese sea salt, much less the boxes of everyday kosher salt stashed in my pantry. And what about the irresistible foods in which salt acts as a preservative but ends up being an integral part of the flavor--olives, parmesan cheese, prosciutto di parma, preserved lemons, bacon, soy sauce, cucumber dill pickles?

Right now I’m remembering that Craig Claiborne, The New York Times’ most famous food journalist, once confessed to having such a craving for salt that he ate it by the spoonful out of the cellar. Of course, his doctor did eventually advise him to temper his consumption; then he came up with his famous low-fat, low-salt diet. (Hint: He used a lot of spices.)

While most health professionals believe that salt contributes to high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes, clinical studies suggest that the issue is not as black and white as one might think. “Genetics dictate that different people have different reactions to sodium,” writes Severson. “Some people are more sensitive to high levels of salt. For other, low levels of sodium can be unhealthy.”

The fact is, we do need salt. In Salt: A World History, Mark Kurlansky says that “without sodium, which the body cannot manufacture, the body would be unable to transport nutrients or oxygen, transmit nerve impulses, or move muscles, including the heart. An adult human being contains about 250 grams of salt, which would fill three or four salt-shakers, but is constantly losing it through bodily functions. It is essential to replace this lost salt.”

For some, the fear is that, if Dr. Frieden has his way, food processors will redouble their efforts to create “a good salt substitute”— something really healthy like, say, margarine which turns out to be chock full of evil trans fats. Todd Abraham, a senior vice president of Kraft, told Severson that a salt substitute is “the holy grail” for many in the industry.

Personally, I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing: Eating a lot of fresh foods, cutting back on processed foods with the highest sodium content, adding salt in moderation in cooking and at the table, and using condiments judiciously. But I don’t want anyone telling Nabisco that they can’t put real salt on their Triscuits.

To get the full scoop on sodium chloride, you must of course read Mark Kurlansky’s book, Salt: A World History. Then for salt deprivation gone wild, peruse The Great Hedge of India, in which Roy Moxham tells how, in the 1850’s, the British East India Company planted an impenetrable 1,500 mile hedge across the subcontinent in order to cut ordinary Indians off from their traditional sources of salt and extort a rapacious Salt Tax.

And for my own thoughts on the pleasures of salt, please go to Daily Addictions, right here on SpiceLines, where you’ll find some ideas for your salt pantry.