Praise the Lord and pass the salt

The high-fructose corn syrup scare is so passe, Zoe — the new terror lurking in our foods is salt. One New York assemblyman has already taken steps to fight this insidious additive by proposing a ban on the substance in New York restaurants, with a corresponding fine of $1,000 per salty infraction.

My favorite curmudgeonly TV chef, Anthony Bourdain, has what I think is the appropriate response to all this in the current issue of Time:

Bourdain, speaking for chefs everywhere, describes salt as the one irreplaceable ingredient in the kitchen. “It’s what makes food taste good,” he says. “Traditional, intelligent and skilled used of salt has become confused in the minds of nanny-state nitwits with the sneaking of salt into processed convenience foods. Nothing else encapsulates the mission of the food ideologues better than this latest intrusion: they desire a world without flavor.”

Orthodox. Faithful. Free.

Sign up to get Crisis articles delivered to your inbox daily

Email subscribe inline (#4)

Email address

Subscribe

Yes, there is too much sodium in processed foods. Fortunately, the secret to all healthy-living regimens is… eating less processed food. I’m not sure why the government needs to step in here, much less intervene in an entirely different sector of the food industry. But then again, that’s never stopped them before.