"Give me a pinch of salt," he said. "Bigger pinch. Bigger pinch. There you go!"
So instructed Michel Richard, Washington's preeminent star chef who teaches classes at his legendary Georgetown restaurant, Citronelle.
Michel earns his reputation and living by making nutritious food taste good. His students were preparing what looked to be a beautiful ratatouille or caponata of colorful vegetables.
Contrast this with the public anti-salt program being waged by the Food Standards Agency of Britain. FSA originally started their salt reduction campaign by demanding national and private label manufacturers reduce the salt content of their processed foods and then, in consumer activist fashion, went on to name and shame those who were slow to cooperate.
This week, the FSA launched their latest anti-salt campaign, entitled (I kid you not) Full of It! The "Full of It!" campaign exhorts consumers to choose their foods based upon one criteria and one criteria only - salt content. Its banner line says,
Check the label and pick the product with the lowest amount of salt.
Regardless of the nutritional value of the food, simply pick the one with the lowest amount of salt. A simple-minded message that totally ignores the role and contribution of all other nutrients in the diet to the health and well being of consumers.
A far more constructive approach was taken by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation (a joint project of the William J. Clinton Foundation and American Heart Association). Just last week their program, devised to reverse childhood obesity in America, was given the nation's most prestigious health care quality award . That program also considered sodium along with all other nutrients and made recommendations for a better quality diet for schoolchildren. Although they asked for a cap on sodium levels, they went way beyond that and made clear exceptions, going as high as three times the recommended cap, for certain foods that provided essential nutrients. They said:
"The overall nutritional benefit of these foods outweighs the potential health concerns concerning higher sodium. They contain nutrients that kids need like vitamin A, calcium and fiber. Many of the soups also contain vegetables, which we know that kids don't get enough of. In addition most soups are moderate in calories and low in fat and saturated fat."
Bitterness is a major determinant of vegetable palatability and a major reason why youngsters avoid them. Many need a bigger pinch of salt to make them taste good, and it's the overall quality of the diet that counts, not just one isolated component. The residents of Italy and Spain eat a lot more vegetables and 15-20% more salt (according to the Intersalt data) than their British counterparts, yet the WHO Health for All database shows that their ischemic heart disease death rate is half that of the UK!
Come to think of it, I can't think of a better name for this latest FSA anti-salt campaign than "Full of It!" because that is exactly what it is.
