A New York State Assemblyman has written a bill that would ban chefs from using salt in any restaurant (customers would add their own). Here is the bill, along with his reasoning. Thoughts? What is a chef's responsibility with regard to the health of his/her customer?
From Megumi:
ReplyDeleteI think the bill is so ridiculous I was appalled by the politician
Felix Ortiz - and that comes from me who usually don't judge people
for one or few things. Cooking obviously had very little do do with
his life. Salt is such an important component in bringing out flavor
in food, so prohibiting it for restaurant usage (unless when given
approval from the customer) is such nonsense for restaurants.
Reduction of salt usage in fast-food restaurants would be a little
more reasonable. I think chefs do not have to be responsible for the
health of his/her customers because restaurants ... I think they do
not have any responsibility to their customers with the exception of
tricking people into things. Instead, restaurants will have mottos and
ideas for what they want to offer - whether that may be promotion of
health, high-quality dining experience, or cheap, quick food. And
customer demand will respond to the restaurant's ideology; and in some
cases, the restaurants probably will change philosophy to meet the
demand - say no usage of salt (though my guess is that is very
unlikely to happen.)
-Megumi
I agree with Megumi. This is absolutely crazy in the eyes of a chef, but I think we need to think about the purpose of the bill instead of only what it is trying to achieve. Ortiz needs to think about the real culprit of the American obesity epidemic and what people are eating that contribute to a majority of salt in their diet. The answer (I think) is processed foods. Foods such as crackers, chips, cookies, deli meats, etc are all major factors in the American diet that contribute to the salt problem. Americans are eating processed foods such as these on a daily basis and may not be eating out in restaurants on a daily basis. First, the government needs to tackle the problem in the home and in products made and purchased every day before they start attacking the restaurant industry.
ReplyDeleteFrom Kyle Michael Dory,
ReplyDeleteThis bill is pretty outrages. I understand that heart disease is a problem in America, and I am sorry to hear that Ortiz' father died from it, but this is no reason to attack salt and American's freedoms. It also must be stressed that it is wrong and inconsistent to ban salt from restaurants. This is because the true offenders of salt abuse are not our restaurants, but our super markets. Considering the fact that super markets supply mostly high salted processed food should brought to light. I am not implying that there should be a ban on salt in super markets, but I feel its inconsistent to attack restaurants when they are not the huge factor in America's heart disease.
Fast food chains such as McDonald's is known to use greats amounts of salt, and maybe it would be a good idea for them to offer products that are lower in sodium, but a ban on salt is unethical and un-American. Citizens should have the freedom to choose any diet they wish. Yes we should hope that our society makes the healthy choices, but in the end it should be exactly that; their choice.
It should also be pointed out that food without salt added can be very bland. This ban could very well cause customers to over salt their bland food, and they would wind up consuming more salt than they would if the cooks were allowed to do it for them in the proper way. This bill simply is outrages. It appears that Ortiz simply wants attention, being that this is not the first time that he has come up with an outrages idea, and it is attention that he has. Let's just hope that the attention he receives is more negative than positive and that American's are allowed to receive dishes the way the restaurants choose to serve them.
Kyle Michael Dory
This is the worst bill/idea i have ever encountered. The shear fact that congress or any politician is worried about too much salt intake for the nation rather than more important factors, say like our 3 trillion dollar debt, homeless, unemployment, HEALTHCARE (at least Obama is trying). Not using salt in your restaurant's cooking is like trying eat your soup without a spoon. Felix Ortiz obviously has never had a good meal in his life, good for him, stick to your McDonalds cheeseburger. He believes that it will lower cardiac arrest, strokes and other health factors from too much sodium intake. What happened to freedom in America, if you have too much salt in your diet, go exercise.
ReplyDeleteThis bill is absolutely absurd! This bill proposed by Felix Ortiz, a New York politician proves how ridiculous and stupid some of the politicians are. First of all from a culinary standpoint salt is crucial in almost any dish. In cooking, adding each ingredient in a dish, especially salt, then a reduction of those ingredients is important for the overall taste and flavor profile. A dish without salt is just plain bland and pointless. If this bill were to be passed, it would put a lot of restaurants and cooks to shame. Everything that owners and cooks strive for would be tarnished. Just because poor nutritional obese people don’t know how to control their eating habits, doesn’t mean the government should outlaw the use of salt by foodhandlers. Having said that, those unhealthy eaters will only continue to pour ridiculous amounts of table salt in their food. Felix obviously has no culinary experience and is just responding to the death of his father. The only problem with salt is when fast food industries use way too much of it to cover up their poor product. For example, McDonalds fries are probably one of the saltiest things I’ve ever experienced, thus it’s appeal. Poor eaters and fast food industries are to blame for the abuse of salt. Americans, especially those who are obese, uncultured, and inexperienced to culinary world, need to go outside the box, and try going to a nice restaurant. I’m getting kind of off point about the bill but, it is a blog so my advice is for people to Ignore taboo, experience TRUE food! Stay away from over salted, mass-produced, artery clogging, fast food products. The enormous amounts of salt that these places use just create a norm for how food should taste, and that’s just not true culinary. I’m kind of getting off track now but the other day I actually overheard a conversation between two older couples, it was their anniversary and they were talking about going somewhere really nice to celebrate. When they both agreed upon Olive Garden, I started laughing uncontrollably I nearly dropped to the ground laughing. I thought wow, what’s wrong with today’s society? People, especially Americans are ignorant, they need to at least experience their culinary taboo, so they’ll realize what true foods truly are and foods like McDonalds are just plain wrong. I have always tried to live life through the fullest, to experience the unfamiliar or taboo. I recommend it to everyone it is the best way to live life, because of this I have experienced some of the best and now favorite activities. Cooking, eating, ski racing, waterskiing, and skydiving, were once in my life taboo and are now my favorite activities. It was a lifestyle, choice, best decision I ever made. People like Felix Ortiz just anger me, there ignorant and don’t take into respect the negative impacts a decision like this will cause. Politicians need to stop attempting to interfere with people’s lifestyle choices. People are very aware of the dangers in the world; they know exactly what there doing. For example people who smoke or in this example eat unhealthy foods. People and fast food operations are to blame not food handlers in restaurants. I can only imagine the copious amounts of table salt inexperienced food eaters will use if they pass this bill. Finally Felix Ortiz’s judgment is clogged, he is just emotional, his father died from a heart attack due to high blood pressure and is not taking into account what this bill will actually mean.
ReplyDeleteThis bill is seriously the most absurd proposition I’ve ever heard! This bill proposed by Felix Ortiz, a New York politician proves how ridiculous and stupid some of the politicians truly are. First of all from a culinary standpoint salt is absolutely crucial in almost any dish. In cooking, adding each ingredient in a dish, especially salt, then a reduction of those ingredients is important for the overall taste and flavor profile. A dish without salt is just plain terrible. If this bill were to be passed, it would put a lot of restaurants and cooks to shame. Everything that owners and cooks strive for would be tarnished. Just because poor nutritional obese people don’t know how to control their eating habits, doesn’t mean the government should outlaw the use of salt by foodhandlers in restaurants. Having said that, those unhealthy, inexperienced salt-craved eaters will only continue to pour ridiculous amounts of salt in their food. Felix obviously has no culinary or tasting experience and is just responding to the death of his father. The only problem with salt is when fast food industries use way too much of it to cover up it’s poor product. McDonalds perfect example, their fries have an insanely high salt content. If you’re fat or have a high blood pressure, exercise and diet, don’t blame it on the salt! Every single person knows the dangers of today’s world, including what he or she is eating. If someone honestly thinks eating fast food on a daily basis is healthy there either completely ignorant or mentally handicapped.
ReplyDeleteHahah got to love the government. I think this is completely stupid. If people don't want salt in their food then they need to cook it themselves. Also, would this bill stop bakers from using salt??? If so, then there will not be anymore bakers. The government tries to control the people way to much. It's honestly repulsive to get served food with out salt. It's not the restaurants fault that Americans are unhealthy. The government is always trying to push the blame on someone else. This is completely stupid.
ReplyDeleteEvan S Wilson Gastronomy Class 1:45
I would hope that everyone in this school would be against even the idea of this bill. Legally it should not be the job of the chef to watch what his/her customers eats. If a chef wants to run a healthy restaurant thats their own choice and would probably be able to market it really well, but choice was the key work. I am just tired of people saying that its restaurants and fast food places fault that Americans are over weight. Not one of us goes into Mcdonalds thinking about how healthy we are being, we went in there because it is fast and we were too lazy to cook a meal at home. It they want this bill to pass maybe they should tweak it a little to say that salt will no longer be on the customers table; we have all seen that guy that puts 400 shakes of salt on his food before even tasting it. I dont think that the pinch or two of salt the chef adds is really the factor.
ReplyDeletethomas mazzetti
I too think this bill is ridiculous. It reminds me of an article i read about a state (possibly NY) wanting to tax soda excessively to cut down on consumption as a way to decrease obesity. It doesnt make sense. I also think that giving the customer the choice to add salt where there is none is the wrong way to go about it. If you think restaurants are the main place where people consume too much salt, fine but giving them the salt to add as they please is not a good alternative. Rather than give them the choice to add more salt, it makes more sense to take it off the table. This way the person is eating the dish as it was intended by the chef. I cant tell you how many times i have been out to eat with friends or family and someone reaches for the salt before they even try their food.
ReplyDeleteThis bill is absolutely ridiculous. The study that indicates that three quarters or more of the sodium intake in America comes from restaurants however is likely true. In this I use the term restaurant loosely. The vast majority of people do not go out to eat in a restaurant that is not a fast food restaurant more than two or three times a month. People do quite often though eat at McDonald's and other major chains. A single Big Mac has more than 1000mg of sodium. This does not include the heavily salted fries. The problem with this bill for actual restaurants and bakeries is that for almost everything, adding salt before cooking, and adding salt after cooking, create completely different affects. What this politician should be focusing on if he would like to change America's obesity problem is education about food and more exercise in schools. I have to admit I was shocked at how many obese people there were when I arrived in New York. I'm not sure whether it is just a west coast thing or a difference between countries but it is not common to see obese people Vancouver and I know from the other Canadians I have spoken to here that they were shocked as well. I was also shocked at some of the food items that were eaten on a regular basis by many people. People always have the option of eating healthier, however eating fried chicken every day and McDonald's on a regular occasion is the cause of a high sodium intake and not what you eat once a month in a restaurant.
ReplyDeletefor anyone interested in further discussion of this with people outside of our course several new york restaurants and chefs have collaborated and started a facebook page and website which has a lot of people commenting on it. the website and facebook page name are MyFoodMyChoice.org
ReplyDeleteAlthough I am sure some chefs would find a way to still make their food taste good; this bill would be the death of New York City as a food destination. I believe it would also cause a massive decline in the states economy as well as in the enrollment in culinary schools because people would likely go to a school in another state to get their education.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the most insane things i've come across. It's not a chefs responsibility to care for a customers health. The reason he or she is a chef is because they have the keenest sense of pleasuring ones palate in a dining experience. All though some chefs have heavier set dishes they don't try to make dishes unhealthy. If a customer has a sodium intake problem then they should be monitoring themselves, and even stray from places at all that are to be honest delightful.
ReplyDeleteI as well think it is absolutly obsured to cut salt out of cooking. As in an earlier post I believe it should be up to the consumer to purchase whatever he or she wants. A few years ago NYC made trans fat products illegal to use. This was ok because there are other ways around using products, such as frying oil (which I believe was the main trans fat product) but with Salt the only options for replacement are manufactured items which would be at a much higher cost and who knows what the long term effect of these would be....http://www.amazon.com/Sodium-Free-NoSalt-Granules-Substitute/dp/B000GG0FNK
ReplyDeleteI understand this guy trying to reduce sodium intake but this was really a horrible way to go about it.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, not many people eat in restaurants every single day. People usually eat in restaurants for special occasions. By removing salt from food, these dinners would be tasteless, bland, boring, and certainly difficult to find as pleasing or even satisfacory. People (at least foodies) attend restaurants to have great chefs cook for them and to be pleased. My guess is that resaurant profits would plummet and there would be many many customer complaints.
Second- By taking away an ingredient, especially one that is so essential for taste (and survival), is taking away our freedom, both consumer and chef. Let's get back on the Democracy track.
Third- Processed food!! The America Heart Association recommends no more than 2,400mg of salt a day. If you look at a precooked "healthy" frozen dinners such as Lean Cuisine, it has 2,300mg of salt in one container... that's enough to make my tounge shrivel.
I think this guy needs to turn to the real problem in our agricultural industry- the problem isn't merely sodium chloride, or fat, or sugar. Our government lays the blame on a different natural component of food every year. How about we look at the industrial boom of agriculture and the way our means of production has changed- bigger and faster production (lower quality and diversity of food), hormones and pesticides, and various genes in food that should not be there. Industrial Agriculture and Heart Disease are breathtakingly correlated. If they really cared about health they would get to the root of the problem. Eliminating salt in restaurant food is not going to solve anything.
This is really taking it too far because if a person has the dietary needs to cut out salt then when they make reservations or go to a place to eat then they should let the establishment now. A chef can not cut salt out completely because it will change the food entirely. It should really be at the person who is preparing the foods discretion to determine the amount of salt that goes on or into a food not the government.
ReplyDeleteAs much as i'd like to say that this is a good bill and it makes sense , i can't. I'm not going to attack Felix for his loss, or say that its everyone's right. I just think that its time people demand the right information be available to them so that they can make informed decisions. I know lots of companies don't want to make their ingredients lists public, but I also don't think people are going to fast food chains under the illusion that the food there is great for their health. So i guess in my mind those adults (myself included once in awhile) have made a conscious decision to eat an unhealthy meal. So if these companies do decide to make this information available , they could probably be held "a little bit" less accountable because its not as though they're hiding their foods in a a shroud of secrecy. Endorsing transparency takes some of the burden off of their shoulders. In fact, doing so in a timely fashion might improve their image as a food provider.
ReplyDeletePutting a ban on salt is like cutting your credit cards up because you can't stop yourself from spending. Sure, its a band-aid somewhat. But does it really solve the problem? Maybe temporarily, but the root of the problem still exists and you haven't entirely addressed it.
Does this mean as chefs we might get "a-salted?" I know, I know...yuck
Paul H.
I think the bill is ridiculous to ban salt from kitchen use. Salt is a big component in seasoning meals and if the chef chooses to use they should be able to. It's not that the chefs are over salting the dishes and causing health problems, it's when the customer recieves the dish and decides to add more than needed thats giving them the higher risk.
ReplyDeleteK.Fry
I don't agree with this bill at all. I believe that when a person goes to a restaurant they go to eat the food that the chef prepares. The way the chef prepares it. If they wanted food that was particularly healthy, or salty, or less salty, or cooked a specific way than they would probably make it themselves at home. Not allowing chefs to creatively express themselves and make a dish the way that they "see it" takes away the entire point of innovative creative chefs and going to a restaurant. If a chef sees salt as part of his or her dish than he or she should be allowed to use it. What should really be addressed is the amount of people that "season without reason." Maybe what should really be considered is taking salt off of the table in restaurants so that the only salt that can be used is what is used in the kitchen.
ReplyDeleteC. Humphrey
Daniel Sarta
ReplyDeleteI strongly disagree with this bill. I belive that allowing the goverment to dictate what we can eat and not eat in non goverment funded zones would be a direct assault on the very constitution this country was built on. If we alow the goverment to tell us what we can eat and how we can eat it, whos to say what they will try and "monitor" next. While this appears to be a small issue of "salt or no salt", I belive allowing this would set a presidence. It would intill a future attitute towards "monitoring and protecting" the people.
And lets be honest how could such a law be executed? Who would realy go around tasteing every restaurants food in the whole state, that would be a massive effort that most likley would not happen, and if it did where would we get the money? I would almost guaratee that the large majority of restaurants would continue to use salt which would force the law abiding restaurants out of buissiness becausse of obvious taste disadvatages; or this would cause them to use salt themselves. And when there was a heart attack it would allways be the restaruants fault from that point on, because they shouldent be useing salt. This law makes no sense to me I hope it dosent pass
While salt does cause some health concerns, I believe that it is the consumers issue to deal with. I can understand why they might ban salt from the tables in restaurants but as far as the kitchen, that’s ridiculous. Salt brings out the full flavors of food and if used properly, salt would not even be needed at the table. Most restaurants also offer low sodium options for those who are concerned with their health. If you are so concerned that you can’t even go to restaurants and get the low sodium option and be happy with it, then maybe you just need to stay home.
ReplyDeleteS. Booth
This bill is just a lame and thoughtless attempt to gain publicity. I have never heard of Felix Ortiz until reading this bill, but from reading it, I'm pretty sure I have a good idea who he is: an unknown politician with a career going nowhere.
ReplyDeleteMaybe someone should force him to eat all his meals without salt, for an entire year. Then he'd become a salt lobbyist after realizing just how important is it in making food actually palatable. Certain dishes cannot be prepared without salt, aka salting after the dish is finished. What he needs to understand (maybe he does, but doesn't care) is that salt is not bad for you; too much salt is bad for you.
People can choose to eat at home or at specialized restaurants if they have health issues. I'd like to see what would happen to a politician in France who attempted to propose such a bill.
-Simon Tan
I agree with everyone in the fact that this proposed bill is stupid. People go out to eat to be given good food, and good service. They don't want to deal with cooking their own food, and serving themselves. It's about convenience and pleasure. People that are really health-conscious don't order food that doesn't fit into their diet. As someone who has worked in the industry, I know that people have no problem asking for changes to the food on the menu. If they want something with less salt, or no meat, etc., they will ask for it. Then it is up to the kitchen to decide if they will provide the customer with what they asked for or lose a customer. There doesn't have to be a law to force people to cut down on salt. Demand will take care of it, if enough people care about the issue.
ReplyDeleteAs Anthony Bourdain " My purpose is to simply make great tasting food." I think this is absolutely correct. Although our costumers health is, of course, very important, they are not paying us to take care of it. They are paying us to feed them something delicious, and that is exactly what I will do. Whether this takes 20 lbs of salt or not, I would definitely not stop using it. It is only up to oneself to take care of their bodies. If we choose to intake it, it is our responsibly to control the amount that we eat. It should definitely not be up to the chef.
ReplyDeletei say take away the salt... chef's will find another way to make there food great... and we'll all be a bit healthier... why not
ReplyDeleteAs most of my peer's have already agreed upon, the taking away of salt during the preparation of food is absolutely absurd. I say absurd for the following points; customers attend restaurants as a way to indulge, and those customers that do eat out for health reasons have options to dine at a restaurant profiling healthy eating. But for government to try and cap the amount of salt we eat is a direct "slap in the face" of every American who enjoys eating. What this bill really is about is the notion that government knows what's best for us, while the average consumer doesn't. It's about government moderating our business, our health, and our lives. Enough is enough, and government has no right telling us when we can or cannot eat.
ReplyDeleteDa Me Lee
ReplyDeleteI think completely benning the salt use in restaurants is a too extreme way to solve the health problems of the people. Or course too much salt for the people is bad for health, but salt is one of the ingredients that gives and emphasizes the flavor of other ingredients, and also some amount of sodium is necessary for human being. I also believe that salt is one of the things that make the chef's dish compelete, they decide how much to put and what taste the dish should be. I think people are all clever enough to decide how much salt they should consume, it is not the responsibility of restaurants to put the consumers health in the first place by giving up their role(giving joy to customers by food and taste. People who should not be counsuming the high amount of salt could make their healthy dish at home or, ask privately to reduce the amount of salt in their dish once they are at the restaurant. HOwever if the New YOrk state Assembly really had to do something regarding the high amount of sodium consumption of people, they could decide the reasonable amount of salt that can be used at the restaurants. However for me prohibiting the salt in the kitchen is rediculous for me because some of the dishes would not be possible to not use salt (ex, pickling, things that have to me preserved for a longer time.)
What is a chef to do without salt? Of course cooking won't change but salt is a main ingedient of cooking, used to bring out the flavor of the food. Of course we all know there is an obesity problem going on, but not because of salt in cooking, because of bad unhealthy eating habits and junk food! Thats like telling an artist you can still produce paintings, just not using paint.
ReplyDeleteIt's like Alton Brown said numerous times on Good Eats: "Salt makes food taste like itself."
ReplyDeleteHaving already done an article for the school paper on this very same topic, I couldn't agree more with Mr. Brown's statement. It really is up to the consumers to watch what they put into their bodies. The reports of high sodium-related deaths often originate from people who have had a history hypertension in their family. In addition, it's the major food corporations who are to blame for high sodium content in processed foods, not chefs. True, chefs should monitor how much salt goes into foods, but to take it out all together? That's just not good eats at all.
Andrew Asistin
Gastronomy 6:30 Tues. and Thurs.