NutritionEd:

Every time I visit my mom’s house for dinner we inevitably come around to the topic of salt. The infamous NaCl molecule has been a point of contention between myself and, well, most of my family for as long as I’ve been involved in the kitchen (since I was about 14).

My position is that while salt is necessary for many aspects of successful cooking (both for chemical as well as gustatory reasons) it can also be used over zealously and without regard to accepted nutrition practice. (see my post “Sodium in our society” for information on that)

My mom’s position, on the other hand, is a little more… liberal… shall we say. She is of the belief that salt should be added to pretty much any home cooked meal as long as it is used in the preparation phase only. She adheres to the axiom that you require less salt to reach a desired flavour if you add it during cooking as opposed to at the table; something I totally agree with. However, what she and many people don’t seem to understand is that certain situations require no salt AT ALL in order to reach a desired flavour.

For example, steamed vegetables. The other day my wife and I were over for a delicious Roasted Ham dinner and we made steamed broccoli as an accompaniment. I surreptitiously placed myself in charge of this task as I hoped to have it ready before my mom could intervene with the salt shaker. Sadly, I was naïve in this endeavor and we proceeded to, yet again, “discuss” the use of salt. My argument that the broccoli would taste superior if we left it as nature intended once again fell on deaf ears and she, being the matriarch, summarily tossed in a few dashes of salt. </sigh> I tried.

I suppose I’ve been on this crusade against salt ever since my father suffered a heart attack in the 80s. Speaking from first hand experience it is quite a traumatic experience for a young boy to see his father lying in a hospital bed with a dizzying array of beeping and flashing equipment surrounding him. I’ll always remember the nutrition advice given for such cases back then; cut down on salt and cholesterol. Although the latter may not be the heart killer we were all led to believe, the recommendation to cut salt has stood the test of time… and numerous subsequent studies. Indeed, just the other day the World Heart Federation was in the news stipulating that millions of lives all over the world could be saved if people simply cut ½ a teaspoon of salt each day from their diet. Hmmm, ½ a teaspoon… sounds about as much as my mom put in that broccoli…

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