Years ago, I read an article about an itinerant kayaker. A man of excessive eccentricities, the story of his life, what little was known of it, was fascinating. Not fascinating enough for me to recall his name or, sadly, relocate the article, but memorable.
Among other quirks, he was reported to travel with a bottle of hot sauce and a bottle of soy sauce. He would periodically take a swig from one or both and explain to bewildered visitors that he was “flavoring up his mouth.” That act conveys the intensity of desire for strong flavors that some of us experience. The people genetically inclined to have hypersensitive tastebuds and struggle to eat cucumbers for what they perceive as the overwhelming sensation of flavor will never relate to this experience, but I know there are other flavor-philes seeking always to “flavor up their mouths.”
Hot sauce and blue cheese, olives, pickles, pickled vegetables of all variety, salt and vinegar potato chips, soy sauce and ginger, plum sauce and Thai basil: So many intense flavors and flavor pairings that seem to electrify the humdrum necessity of daily sustenance.
For years, I lived in the fantasy that salt wasn’t that bad for one’s health. My ultimate justification, poorly and anecdotally cobbled together, was that the Japanese are known for being exceptionally healthy. Their diet has loads of salt, and they’re fine!
Not so fine on the salt front, it turns out. Bee Wilson, an author and excellent food writer for the Wall Street Journal, addressed the sad findings, writing, “Like most food writers, when I hear nutritionists suggest that we eat too much salt, I tend to put my fingers in my ears and think passionate thoughts about anchovies.” Until recently, I could not relate to the passion for anchovies, but once you’ve made a dressing with anchovies processed to a salty, barely identifiable pulp, you will want all their salty flavor.
However, Wilson continues, “When you dig into the science of salt and diet, it’s impossible to deny that eating less salt really would improve the health of millions of people, and in many cases even prevent death from heart disease or stroke.”
Regarding my favorite justification, the nation of Japan, Wilson writes, “In the 1950s, the Japanese had some of the highest rates of death from stroke in the world. Japanese salt consumption was also extremely high—an average of 18 grams a day in the north of the country, with most of it coming from traditional foods used in home cooking such as miso and soy sauce.”
That’s a bit concerning, but was it definitively because of the salt? Well, yes, it appears so. Wilson continues, “A government campaign successfully reduced salt intake to 12.1 grams a day by the 1960s. At the same time there was an astonishing 80% decline in deaths from stroke, and a drop in blood pressure in both adults and children.”
After that day, I could no longer indulge the fantasy that excessive salt was of no concern. I would pause with a twinge of guilt over the application of seasonings, dressings, and garnishes that before would not have made me bat an eye.
It has not been the tragedy I assumed, however. There are so many spices and seasonings for flavoring things up. Excessive use of salt dulls our ability to appreciate other flavors at a certain point. It’s true that salt enhances many flavors, but too much salt means all you can taste is saltiness.
As free verse poetry is generally so insipid and unsatisfying, a diet with no restraint on the application of salt leaves much flavor to be desired. When salt is denied primacy in our daily nutrition, other flavors can blossom. A newfound delight of mine are recipes that warn not to spare a key ingredient. “Don’t skimp” on the cinnamon, curry powder, or sugar atop strawberries: Those directions indicate you’re in for a delicious experience worth relishing.
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