COMMENTARY ON THE AMERICAN 'TRIUMVIRATE.....SALT, SUGAR AND FAT'.......

I seldom 'dine out' ....especially on Atlanta's 'crowded everyplace' weekends.......nevertheless, last night I relented and accompanied a far more 'social' friend to a packed Thai restaurant for some delicious food and potent mixed drinks.........other than having to wipe all that fancy salt from the rim of a couple of potent margaritas, [which I estimated...had 4,500 milligrams of sodium and lots of nasty sugar syrup].....that I drank anyway, because I was being "treated to drinks", I was in the 3rd tier of Food Heaven.......but 'salt licks' and 'simple sugar syrup' are for cows and hyper-active pre-diabetic teenagers with high blood pressure.......Soy sauce, salad dressings, sauces, dips, ketchup, mustard and relish all contain sodium......lots of sodium.......A good 'rule'....avoid restaurants that put 'salt shakers' on their tables, while serving already overly salted food on their menus! and remember.....Soy Sauce is.....well.....SALT! breads, burgers and sandwiches, snack foods, cheese, soups, plain milk, breads and poultry are the fat and salt trucks to diabetes, fatflab, high blood pressure and heart disease.........The Average American teenager (90% of them! ) consumes more than the 'recommended' allowance of salt for a day in their ubiquitous pizza lunch wolfing down chowdown......in 5 minutes! Then washes the salty gunk down with a couple sugary 'soft' drinks or 'sweetened' iced tea........I have a beautiful cobalt glass salt cellar that sits between a pair of silver devil's heads......however, I've never used it for 'salt', since I NEVER serve salt with any meals that I prepare and serve.....and those who 'ask' for salt are seldom again guests at my table.......Well, enough of this ranting about salt.....but my blood pressure was 'up' 20 points after those margaritas....I donned the 'blood pressure monitor' after returning home last night.... ...Just this morning, a friend told me....really!....that the secret to making a good cup of coffee is 'adding a pinch of salt' to the ground beans!I note that even on Gordon Ramsay's Masterchef, Jr. , a frequent criticism is...."you've not salted this dish adequately!"......and, on Baking Shows......it is not only sugar that 'rules', but salt....especially in pastries and even in 'sweet' bread.....conservative, 'tried and true'....and, of course, 'delicious'.....Nevertheless, I prefer to dine a bit more on the 'experimental' side........which usually necessitates hitting some tiny 'off road' eatery that is 'owned and operated' by an artist that likes to prepare and serve more idiosyncratically creative food......... Like Andre Zimmern........if he were 30 and had just opened a restaurant in an old house in some super low rent part of town......and, from my endless blogs: I went to a Chinese Restaurant in an ethnic neighborhood recently (on Buford Highway). One restaurant was named "Mai Dung" and served fried bird's vomit, pickled pig's stomach, crunchy fried yak's penis, tandoori duck's brain and braised sliced ox testicles.......This was a challenge, even to me, who claims to have no aversions to strange foodstuffs. Bird's Nest soups are a bit of a turn off, considering that one is eating a brew of bird's droppings; nevertheless, I'm game for a taste, of course......My "problem" areas are RUBBERY, GELATINOUSLY CARTILAGINOUS, BITTER-HOT and CUSHY, as in "lung".....although I love sheep's pancreas with truffles and thrice-boiled foul gizzards in red wine sauce.....And to think....there are those who "don't eat seafood" or "vegetables" much less pig's brains and eggs on toast points with sausage gravy......even when 'properly salted'......

Haggis, anyone??     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k07zCHODCkY