Hold the Salt
Meniere’s and salt
Best compliment to my cooking is an emptied plate, preferably not having been tipped out the window when my back was turned. I enjoy cooking, not heating up ready meals but concocting from ingredients and filling the kitchen with wonderful aromas – burning isn’t an unpleasant smell.
When Sue and I read all the Meniere’s stuff (i.e. salt can make Meniere’s worse) we cut out salt and immediately found food bland. I’ve never been that fond of salt preferring the flavour of freshly ground black pepper. Sue loved the white stuff and used to cover her food with it to the extent that mashed potato took on a winter wonderland look.
In fact we hadn’t been together long when I made bacon sandwiches using gammon steaks, I didn’t know Sue had added lots of salt to hers until later when she could hardly speak and guzzled pints of water – the loss of salt for her was worse.
A little low sodium salt gave her the taste until our palates acclimatised and we both find food perfect with just black pepper for taste enhancement. The difference is such that my mouth cringes and lips curl when I eat food someone else has cooked using salt and, like that sandwich incident, I get a raging thirst.
Cutting out salt is easy, healthy and food does taste better without it – just be patient. Herbs and spices will add enhancement where needed and baked potatoes with butter (or substitute), a few herbs and a scattering of chives are wonderful.
As we’ve all been made aware, our shopping baskets contain products with startling amounts of salt, whilst Sue and I aren’t fanatics we do shop ‘salt aware’. Low-salt crisps satisfy what Sue considers a major food group, but she’s not alone there as salty snacks will always be more attractive than slivers of raw carrot. ‘Our’ generation was brought up with salt added to food during cooking and then topped up at the table.
It’s been suggested that salt use will decrease, but taste buds lose efficiency as we age so I expect salt will just be added in later life. I’ve got no hope then as having been a pipe and cigar smoker since I was 19 my taste buds have already taken a beating. Science could do more though, what about extracting the goodness from vegetables and adding them to other foods. I’d love to see mothers telling their children “if you don’t finish your pizza and chips you’re not having ice cream”. I can always dream.