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Nanny State

$1,000 Salt Coming to New York Restaurants?

Katherine Mangu-Ward | 3.9.2010 4:52 PM

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This is a chunk of text from Bill A10129, introduced on Friday in the New York state assembly, which "Prohibits the use of salt by restaurants in the preparation of food by restaurants."

Naturally, the penalties for the use of salt while cooking food are totally proportionate and reasonable:

$1,000 a pinch? $1,000 a grain? If the bill passes—which we can only hope it won't, since it is the ravings of a madman in legislative form—it looks like the folks at most-expensive.net are going to have to revisit their entry on the world's most expensive salt.

Via the Twitter feed of @consumerfreedom.

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Katherine Mangu-Ward is editor in chief of Reason.

Nanny StateFood Freedom
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  1. SkepticalTexan   15 years ago

    Makes total sense to me. Make that totalitarian sense.

  2. ChrisH   15 years ago

    You should probably take that with a grain of... oh.

    1. bmp1701   15 years ago

      Pay up. You've already corrupted the children with your filthy love for toxic NaCl.

  3. Kant feel Pietzsche   15 years ago

    Dammit! Between Katherine and Radley, I have a permanent goose-egg on my forehead from banging it on the desk.

    1. Let me interpret   15 years ago

      Quit banging your desk;-)

      1. health   15 years ago

        it's true,.

  4. Mo   15 years ago

    This is the most batshit insane thing I have ever read. Has the person that wrote this ever cooked before in their lives? Some food taste atrocious without any salt. It's not even foods you think would require salt, either. I once forgot to add salt to the pancakes I made from scratch and they tasted like crap.

    1. DWCarkuff   15 years ago

      Fuck me in the ass! It is a total toss up which state is run by the biggest bunch of dickheads - NY or CA. Chefs can not use salt! - it is beyond absurd! Cooking without salt, complete fucking idiocy. I hate New York and will be glad to be out of it come summer time.

    2. Joshua   15 years ago

      I keep thinking somebody's gonna say it's a joke. I'm only laughing cuz it's that or crying.

    3. Pro Libertate   15 years ago

      I thought the medical research on salt was less negative than it once was, anyway.

      1. Shelby   15 years ago

        That's why it so urgent to pass this bill now! Before the lying researchers spread their lies further! Damn scientists.

        1. wylie   15 years ago

          Quick, while we have a consensus!

    4. Madbiker   15 years ago

      Not to mention that salt, when combined with baking powder and/or baking soda, acts as a leavening agent in baked goods and quick breads (like pancakes).

      1. Pro Libertate   15 years ago

        Leavened bread is a sin.

        1. Kiwi Dave   15 years ago

          Only a sin on Passover.

          Anyway, bread is full of carbs and makes people fat, so indirectly banning it would be a good thing.

          1. John C. Randolph   15 years ago

            Only a sin on Passover.

            A sin, or just disrespectful of one's ancestor?

            -jcr

            1. Angry Sam   15 years ago

              You're definitely a goy if you think the two aren't one and the same.

        2. Madbiker   15 years ago

          You joke, but your humorous comment does beg a question for kosher joints: how in mighty Yahweh's heaven are you supposed to make your meat kosher if you can't use the requisite salting process to soak up the juices?

          What about kosher pickles?

          Pickled beets? Sauerkraut? Without salt, sauerkraut is just old rotted cabbage.

          1. Kiwi Dave   15 years ago

            (as someone who keeps kosher), kosher meat (the vast majority of the time) comes pre-soaked and salted. So the law wouldn't have any particular effect on kosher food (except for the general effect of making it impossible to cook).

            1. Madbiker   15 years ago

              So would this bill apply to restaurant suppliers as well? If the majority of kosher meat comes pre-salted, and the supplier is in NY and is doing the salting prior to it being wholesaled to restaurant, what could their potential liability be?

              (rhetorical question)

              1. Kiwi Dave   15 years ago

                it's a godo question. On the one hand, it leads to absurdities if you ban everything that has salt in it, as just about all manufactured food products, preserved foods etc. have salt in them. On the other hand, a salt ban could be easily subverted if you were allowed to introduce salty products, e.g., you could add brine to food -- "it's not salt, just a food product that has salt in it."

            2. OMG   15 years ago

              Maybe they'll be an exemption for "Kosher Salt"

            3. ohgodyoudevil   15 years ago

              You are misreading the law. It states that salt in any form may not be used. That would certainly include the use of ingredients which contain salt. It is also worth noting that the law does not specify NaCl. I don't know - are there any meats or vegetables that contain no salts within their cellular makeup?

          2. Pro Libertate   15 years ago

            Hey! No ruining my sauerkraut! Not being Jewish, kosherness is not an issue, but I like German food.

            1. Madbiker   15 years ago

              Good luck getting homemade sauerkraut in any NY restaurants then.

              Maybe I will send you some next time I have a crock ready to eat. Along with some dastardly pierogies (with salt in the dough) and plenty of salted butter and onions to accompany them.

              1. Kiwi Dave   15 years ago

                Bloomberg's ban on trans fats *did* particularly effect kosher eateries, though: since they can serve meat or dairy (but not both), meat restaurants rely heavily on margarines and other products that contain transfats to substitute for dairy products in desserts and other things.

              2. wylie   15 years ago

                Screw your newsletter! When can i sign up for your Crock of the Month club?

          3. Lidia Seebeck   15 years ago

            Actually unsalted rotted cabbage that is extremely unsafe-- the salt keeps several major pathogens at bay until the ferment is sufficiently acidic. Mind you I have the greatest of respect for salted versions of sauerkraut and other ferments of its ilk.

    5. John C. Randolph   15 years ago

      This is the most batshit insane thing I have ever read.

      Oh, that's nothing. L. Ron Hubbard and Lyndon LaRouche have that beat.

      -jcr

  5. John   15 years ago

    These people really are retarded. Nearly every form of food ingredients contains some kind of salt. Go buy a canned anything and it has salt in it. You can't make food without salt. You might as well write a law that fines restaurants for existing.

    At this point, is there any other solution to these people besides shooting them?

    1. TrickyVic   15 years ago

      Fully agree with the retarded comment.

      But it looks like they are talking about adding salt. However, Nanny Bloomie wants to pressure all food manufactures to stop using salt too.

      1. John   15 years ago

        I don't see how it says that. It says "shall use any salt in any form in the preparation of any food". That means if I use tomato sauce that has salt in it, I have violated the law.

        1. TrickyVic   15 years ago

          Your not preparing it.

          However, if you are correct, then it is at least an unenforceable and maybe unconstituional.

          1. John   15 years ago

            It says salt "in any form". When I make pasta with meat sauce and use a tomato sauce with salt in it, I don't see how I am not using salt in the preparation of the food as defined by the bill.

            1. TrickyVic   15 years ago

              You didn't use salt in the preperation, the manufacturer of the tomato sauce did. NYS can't stop Hunts from using it in their sauce.

              But hey, I hope you are right. It makes the bill far more unenforceable than just preventing NY chefs from adding extra salt.

              1. John   15 years ago

                I think that the language is so broadly written "salt in any form" means salt in the ingredients.

                1. TrickyVic   15 years ago

                  If so then it probably wouldn't stand a court challange. My view probably would, which is why I hope you're right.

                  1. Enough About Palin   15 years ago

                    As pointed out before, the way real (nit fictitious) zombies are made is by depriving a person any salt. It fucks up brain function, which is why the missionaries who rescue these people start feeding them salt right away.

                    Now why would the government want a population of zombies?

              2. eric76   15 years ago

                Maybe it should be called "The Heinz Bill".

                Everyone will have to use prepared tomato sauce with salt because they won't be able to make their own from scratch.

            2. Kyle Jordan Prime   15 years ago

              It's very simple John. Salt is like superduper concentrated evil and with no salt, life will be an endless utopia of puppies and oral sex.

              You think I'm kidding? The above statement contains reasoning and logic that is perfectly inline with the same level of intellect used to craft this bill.

              It does not have to make sense because whomever came up with this has absolutely no concept or connection to reality.

              1. Kant feel Pietzsche   15 years ago

                They will just shoot the puppies and ban oral sex anyway. So the point is moot.

                1. Fluffy   15 years ago

                  You can't boil pasta without putting salt in the water.

                  Every Italian restaurant in the state would have to shut down.

                  1. Tulpa   15 years ago

                    I boil Mac & Cheese every day without salt.

                    1. Commander Deanna Troi   15 years ago

                      Well, that explains your fat ass.

                    2. chi_sam   15 years ago

                      I won't pretend to be offended by that remark. But it was really stupid and makes little sense.

                    3. Sean W. Malone   15 years ago

                      Well then you're making a mistake, sir... And if your macaroni is coming out of a blue box, then you're making an even bigger mistake from the outset. Try again.

                    4. Yep, I'm a girl   15 years ago

                      Mac & cheese are for 12 year olds. Hence the picure on the box.

                    5. Picured   15 years ago

                      my picture

                  2. Tannim   15 years ago

                    Actually, you can, but it takes longer.

                    yes, the bill is insane, inane, stupid, lame, dumb, crazy, absurd, retarded, clueless, brainless, idiotic, ...

                  3. eric76   15 years ago

                    "You can't boil pasta without putting salt in the water."

                    Italian restaurants could buy pre-salted water at $5 / gallon.

          2. Rob P.   15 years ago

            It is unconstitutional, period.

        2. bmp1701   15 years ago

          If you're making homemade tomato sauce, you need to add salt. I'm assuming that a decent restaurant makes a big vat of tomato sauce, and unless they've got some weird magic recipe they put salt in when they're cooking it up.

          1. TrickyVic   15 years ago

            They wouldn't be able to if that law is past.

            But John and I are debating the use of canned goods or pre-prepared foods already containing salt.

            1. bmp1701   15 years ago

              Ah, but salt is added to the premade sauce so that it resembles homemade sauce in flavor. Why should it be illegal to assemble something but legal to have somebody else assemble something and sell it to you? This loophole must be closed.

              1. Tulpa   15 years ago

                Reminds me of the workaround margarine manufacturers found when states prohibited them from coloring their margarine yellow: they sold it with food coloring packets attached.

                1. wylie   15 years ago

                  The smart states foresaw this outcome and just forced margarine to be pink. Yum!

      2. The Anchovy Council   15 years ago

        I foresee a greatly increased demand for our products if this legislation passes.

      3. DWCarkuff   15 years ago

        In as much as salt is actually critical to human survival, I would very much like to see this ban on salt go into effect and a number of people croak from over hydration as a result, just like those marathoners who bought into the idea that relentlessly "hydrating" is great for you. You know, that "hydration" hysteria - the idea that you have to drink and drink and drink regardless of whether or not you are thirsty has been shown to be BS. Likewise, this idea that salt is some kind of toxin is total bull. Salt and CO2 are now toxins and poisons. Ridiculous.

    2. Troy   15 years ago

      They went full retard.

      1. bmp1701   15 years ago

        Never go full retard. You'll go home empty handed.

        1. Clich? Bandit   15 years ago

          not true, everyone gets a ribbon.

          I am tied for FIRST!

      2. Clich? Bandit   15 years ago

        I donted 1000$ to special olympics last year. I didnt donate to politicians (other than myself but I didnt win so it doesnt count). I believe you have maligned the retarded by associating them with politicians.

        HRUMPH!!!

      3. Cavan   15 years ago

        LMAO. Troy FTW.

        But yeah, seriously? "Worth his salt"? Roman soldiers used to get paid in this stuff. To this day people trek tablets of this concentrated evil across vast tracts of wasteland just to sell it. Wait wait wait, I finally get it, this is contraband...of course!

    3. Thom   15 years ago

      No, it makes perfect sense. We're at war with obesity. Obesity is caused by overeating. You can't overeat if you don't have any food. All food has salt in it. If you ban salt then people can't eat food. And if they can't eat food they can't overeat, can't become obese, and we will save hundreds of trillions of dollars in medical costs that would have been paid for by taxpayers. Sounds like good public policy to me.

      Now anti-tobacco crusaders will see where their movement went wrong. They should have fought to ban paper.

  6. TrickyVic   15 years ago

    New Jersey's looking better day by day.

    1. heller   15 years ago

      Thank Jeebus we have Christie.

      1. Kiwi Dave   15 years ago

        Yeah, I mean, I don't know anything about his politics, but he sure looks like someone who enjoys his food.

        1. heller   15 years ago

          He's going to cut spending, something that has never really happened in the history of New Jersey as far as I can tell.

          1. Brian   15 years ago

            If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you. Cheap.

            1. heller   15 years ago

              http://globaleconomicanalysis......hands.html

              Believe it

  7. KyleG   15 years ago

    Does this ban the salt shakers one would find on the restaurant table? It sounds like this bans only salt used during preparation and not consumption. Which makes this bill totally okay and shit.

    1. Tannim   15 years ago

      yes, it could, because salting your food before it's eaten is still preparation. for it to be consumption you'd have to add the salt to your mouth while chewing.

      The real problem is the aluminum hydroxide and yellow prussiate of soda (sodium ferrocyanide) added to the salt packets.

  8. Raven   15 years ago

    Holy shit. Have these people ever eaten food without salt? It tastes like crap. Even COOKIES usually have salt in them.

    1. Aresen   15 years ago

      I put a tiny bit of salt in when I perk coffee. (About the amount I can pinch between my thumb and little finger.)

      I am not a coffee drinker, but I always get raves on the coffee I serve my guests.

      1. JW   15 years ago

        Make it stronger. No salt needed.

        1. Veelin   15 years ago

          The salt counteracts bitterness. It's an old trick.

          1. x,y   15 years ago

            Alton Brown did a show recently where he "brouled" some sugar on grapefruit and then added kosher salt, which is supposed to help counteract the bitterness.

  9. Aresen   15 years ago

    Has somebody made the restaurants in the district of "Member of Assembly Ortiz" aware of this bill?

    (I am assuming that "M. of A." is an abbreviation of 'Member of Assembly' and not some less flattering title.

    1. Kolohe   15 years ago

      'Master of Assclownery'

  10. The Other Kevin   15 years ago

    Making all the food in NY restaurants bland and tasteless is a great way to promote the local economy. Next up, fighting global warming by banning taxis from moving.

    1. Aresen   15 years ago

      No experience with NYC, but quite a few other cities I have been in have taxis that don't move (except for the meter.)

      1. TrickyVic   15 years ago

        NYC wouldn't disappoint.

  11. hurly buehrle   15 years ago

    Wow. New York will be KILLING their restaurants with this. Quite literally. I would go out of my way to avoid eating at a restaurant that didn't use salt. Like, hundreds of miles out of my way.

  12. Kyle Jordan Prime   15 years ago

    Yeah! Let's get rid of all salt! Life will be great!!!

    UNTIL WE ALL DIE BECAUSE SALT IS ESSENTIAL TO LIVE YOU IGNORANT STUPID FUCKS!

    Hold yourself underwater until you stop struggling.

    1. John   15 years ago

      Hey, and after we are done with salt we need to do something about the menace that is drinking water.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication

      1. TrickyVic   15 years ago

        That dihydrogen monoxide is deadly.

        I have an idea for the NY state government. Roll up all these health ideas, taxes and such and call it the "The Moving Incentive Act of 2010"

        1. RichN   15 years ago

          "That dihydrogen monoxide is deadly."

          Only if you breath it.

          1. DWCarkuff   15 years ago

            or if you drink 5 gallons of it.

      2. Kyle Jordan Prime   15 years ago

        Exactly.

        You know, I have the final solution. Living in and of itself can cause injury and death. So, in order to supersede all of these other things that still leave dangers out there, my idea is that we do away with the root problem that causes all: Life.

        If we kill everyone, no one can be harmed!

        Yay!

        ...

        1. Kant feel Pietzsche   15 years ago

          Don't rush to give them ideas. There have been sects of "people" walking this planet that thought that idea was hunky-dory.

        2. David Emami   15 years ago

          Already been done: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judge_death

        3. Tannim   15 years ago

          Now you sound like a PETArd...but the snarkasm is well-taken.

      3. Kant feel Pietzsche   15 years ago

        The horrors of dihydrogen monoxide. Oh, the humanity!!

        1. Tulpa   15 years ago

          I heard that tsunamis only occur in areas where there is a lot of dihydrogen monoxide and salt present. Ban them both!

      4. Kyle Roberts   15 years ago

        Am I the only one thinking of the inevitable political solution to the new threat of water intoxication?

        That's right, mandated salt water out of the taps. Or Brawndo.

        1. wylie   15 years ago

          And when brawndo starts coming out of our taps, there will still be people claiming Idiocracy was fiction.

    2. Owen   15 years ago

      I don't see any mention of NACL in the bill. Simple solution for some savvy restaurant supplier - label all the salt for restaurant use ONLY as Sodium Chloride, then the assembly has to amend the bill to get a conviction to stick...technically they never defined what "salt" is in the bill.

  13. Kant feel Pietzsche   15 years ago

    Just TRY to choke down a piece of bread with the salt left out of the dough. Remember library paste when you were a kid?

    And let's totally fucking ignore the fact that every living creature on the planet needs salt in order to survive.

    Deer lick river clay to supplement their salt intake, because there isn't enough natural sodium IN THEIR FOOD SOURCE to survive.

    Fucking morons.

    1. Aresen   15 years ago

      The bill will provide for river clay for people to lick.

      1. Kant feel Pietzsche   15 years ago

        I would remind the author of this fucking abortion of a bill that my ass is salty.

      2. Pope Jimbo   15 years ago

        No way, last time I licked river clay I ended up getting bucked in the ass.

        1. Kant feel Pietzsche   15 years ago

          I warned you about Warty's "river clay" routine. Your ass has no one else to blame.

      3. adam   15 years ago

        And subsidies for the poor who can't avoid river clay

  14. JW   15 years ago

    First, they came for the salt shakers....

  15. Troy   15 years ago

    If my remember my college chemistry correctly, every time you mix a base with and acid, you get a "salt" and water. So salt salt is just one of many kinds of salt.

    Is everyone in New York this fucking retarded?

    1. Aresen   15 years ago

      Only the politicians.

      1. JW   15 years ago

        But not the people who vote them in?

    2. TrickyVic   15 years ago

      Just the ones we send to Albany.

    3. Troy   15 years ago

      Hey, I was partly right.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_(chemistry)

      Dear New York Legistlature. Please go fuck yourself with your enourmous stupidity. Given the size, you'll need lots of ky jelly.. Just makes sure there aren't salts in it you assholes.

    4. Troy   15 years ago

      My appologies to the millions of non stupid new yorkers. That was a lame comment.

      1. Nick   15 years ago

        Some of us are fighting the stupidity. Maybe I'll just throw salt at the bastards. Apparently, it's deadly for stupid people.

  16. kelley   15 years ago

    Alton Brown in last night's episode of "Good Eats" discussed the importance of salt in balancing flavors in desserts and other foods. Recipes included Dark Salty Caramels, Praline Bacon and Grapefruit Brulee. He also devoted an episode to salt awhile back in an episode called "Eat This Rock." Link to first part at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f62XQPBlTE Guess the food police will be gunning for him on his next visit to New York.

    1. Plague Dog   15 years ago

      Alton Brown is history's greatest monster.

      1. Warren   15 years ago

        Yes, yes he is.
        For his crimes against culinary science he should be forced to lick a high speed emery cloth.

        1. Pro Libertate   15 years ago

          You know what? Shut the hell up. Alton rules.

          1. Episiarch   15 years ago

            Alton is nothing compared to Batali. Which is why he hosts Iron Chef instead of winning it.

            And fuck Flay. Just because.

            1. Kyle Jordan Prime   15 years ago

              I love Alton but man, Mario is so goddamn good at what he does he just makes everything look easy. It's like he has total control of everything going on around him.

            2. hamilton   15 years ago

              Agree on Alton. Agree on Flay. But batali is just another sellout (though a great chef).

              I would expect Libertarians to embrace Bourdain, who at least admits to being a sellout.

              1. JW   15 years ago

                Bourdain is libertarian on food and smoking, but it doesn't seem to translate to anything else.

            3. JW   15 years ago

              We can find where you live Warren.

        2. Kant feel Pietzsche   15 years ago

          Just because EVERYTHING Flay makes has chiles, citrus, and honey in it? Hater.

          Actually, AB never claimed to be a great chef. He's a cross between Bill Nye and James Beard, and an infotainer.

    2. Enough About Palin   15 years ago

      "Dark Salty Caramels"

      RACIST!

      1. Tannim   15 years ago

        Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls? BANNED! so much for reviving Mr. Hankey!

    3. Pro Libertate   15 years ago

      I saw that one. Praline bacon. He's a god.

      1. hamilton   15 years ago

        Oh, screw, there've been bacon-flavored chocolate bars for an age now. And if you're just realizing that bacon is God's own condiment, then you're not fit to be called a foodie. Christ, even Homer Simpson knew that.

  17. @   15 years ago

    Relax. It'll never see the light of day.

    1. Kant feel Pietzsche   15 years ago

      Of course not. But that's not the point. The point is that some fuckstick who is supposedly learned and a "leader" of their community actually dreamed this shit up.

      DOOM, I TELLS YA. DOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

      1. @   15 years ago

        I feel your pain.

      2. Almanian   15 years ago

        Nice use of "fuckstick" - I like that word, esp when applied to fucksticks like the one who wrote this proposed laaaaaaaaaw.

    2. creech   15 years ago

      Damn, I was kinda hoping it would pass.
      Then "Ortiz" might feel the wrath of the NYT Food critic, a million upper east and west side foodies, etc. etc.

      1. Sean W. Malone   15 years ago

        I totally want it to pass, actually! I really, REALLY want to see 100% of the chefs in New York State, and especially Manhattan have their brains explode.

        It would be simultaneously one of the most hilarious and awesome backlashes in the history of stupid government. The wrath that would ensue would put the original Boston Tea Party to shame.

        1. Eric the .5b   15 years ago

          Three words: salt-encrusted limousines.

          Or whatever these twits ride in.

  18. Episiarch   15 years ago

    Salt is absolutely, utterly essential to cooking. This can't be stressed more. This bill is so stupid that I'm amazed those who wrote it aren't in comas.

    How could this ever get past the restaurant industry? Unless...restaurants with pre-prepared food that is shipped in, such as Taco Bell or other chains, and needs no salt added after the fact, might be liking this.

    1. Pro Libertate   15 years ago

      Maybe they just want to ban table salt, so that people will use sea salt and other more full-bodied salts?

      1. Kant feel Pietzsche   15 years ago

        Right, since ALL salt is nothing more than the crystalline form of Sodium Chloride, and the only variences are the size of the chunks and the source.

      2. BakedPenguin   15 years ago

        Big Potassium Chloride is behind this...

      3. Kant feel Pietzsche   15 years ago

        Once it dissolves into it's component ions, it don't matter whether it came from "Welsh smoked river salt", "Gray sea salt" or grandma's armpit.

        1. Pro Libertate   15 years ago

          I didn't mean sea salt wasn't primarily NaCl; I just meant that the drafters were thinking table salt when they wrote salt. Oh, and I was kidding, too, I should probably add.

    2. Ray Pew   15 years ago

      How could this ever get past the restaurant industry? Unless...restaurants with pre-prepared food that is shipped in, such as Taco Bell or other chains, and needs no salt added after the fact, might be liking this.

      This came to mind when I read this. A lot of large chain restaurants have pre-prepared ingredients so that their workers only have to open them up and heat them.

      1. Kiwi Dave   15 years ago

        Of course, NYC restaurants can just pre-prepare their food in warehouses in NJ, and just re-heat them in NY. I'm sure Le Bernardin and Les Halles etc will have no problem with that.

        The now-unused kitchens can be converted to low-cost accommodation.

        1. @   15 years ago

          Isn't that how Olive Garden does it?

  19. zeroentitlement   15 years ago

    And the law is dimwitted enough to say "salt in any form," meaning that no prepared foods that already contain salt can ever be used in any dish. Like, oh, for example, cheese, any smoked or cured meats, baked goods, any ready-made condiments, anything pickled, just about anything canned, most imported foods, any meats or poultry that have been plumped or brined, any sodas that contain sodium...

    So basically, what restaurants in NY can serve you now is a glass of ice water and a toothpick.

    1. Kant feel Pietzsche   15 years ago

      Unless they're going to serve you distilled water and a plastic toothpick, they won't even be able to do that.

      1. bmp1701   15 years ago

        Do you really need a toothpick? You could put somebody's eye out. Best that we confiscate that too.

    2. Jeffersonian   15 years ago

      This asshat would keel over if he saw the pork belly I just cured.

  20. meerdahl   15 years ago

    1) don't you need salt for certain recipes?

    2) they need to say "Sodium Chloride", not salt

    3) is salt really a problem? the "experts" seem to go back and forth on this, except for people that have a specific medical problem: "The risk for disease due to insufficient or excessive salt intake varies because of biochemical individuality. Some have asserted that while the risks of consuming too much salt are real, the risks have been exaggerated for most people, or that the studies done on the consumption of salt can be interpreted in many different ways"

    4) I would not have a problem with them indicating estimated fat, calories, and sodium on the menu

    5) these guys are insane

    1. Kant feel Pietzsche   15 years ago

      1. Virtually EVERY recipe calls for salt.

      2. Sodium Chloride IS salt in English

      3. The only people who have to watch their sodium intake are those with high BP secondary to renal disease (they don't excrete excess salt properly) and those with pre-existing congestive heart failure. Everyone else just excretes the excess.

      4. Whatever

      5. No shit.

  21. BakedPenguin   15 years ago

    I eat a very low-sodium diet due to hypertension. I don't need bureaucratic morons to tell me that restaurant food has lots of salt. I also don't need them to regulate it for me. I just need to do most of my cooking and be careful when I eat out.

    1. Clich? Bandit   15 years ago

      you should read "Good Calories Bad Calories".

      Warty made me buy it after the diabetic discussion when we all picked on poor SFs weak ass pancrease. Ohh, and he sodomized me too. I guess.

      Anyway, I think this is a great way to bring about radical change in NY governance. There are very few things New Yorkers (I refer to the Manhattanites and B&T crowd) will actually riot, pillage, and kill for but good (nay, excellent, and the only real reason I go to NYC)food is probably the highest.

      What is life without a little salt?

      p.s. Name the movie to label yourself a movie buff nerd...get the actor for extra points.

      1. Byron   15 years ago

        Google search yields Nick Nolte as Learoyd in Farewell to the King (1989).

        1. Clich? Bandit   15 years ago

          cheater

          1. Byron   15 years ago

            Hey, at least I admit it! I gave it 15 hours - figured no one was going to get it, anyway. =)

    2. Marja Erwin   15 years ago

      I am taking potassium-sparing diuretics for an endocrine condition. I am not worried about sodium chloride, but I'm scared of potassium chloride.

      1. Marja Erwin   15 years ago

        P.S. I'm worried that bills like this will encourage people to substitute potassium chloride for sodium chloride.

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperkalemia

  22. Jersey Patriot   15 years ago

    I, for one, applaud New York's stimulus package for New Jersey's restaurants.

  23. Warren   15 years ago

    Anyone supporting this sort of nonsense should be sentenced to eating a salt free diet for a period of no less than 1000 days.

    1. BakedPenguin   15 years ago

      Well, as someone noted above, sodium is necessary for life. They'd be dead long befo-

      Oh, heh, yeah, you're right. 1000 days is about right.

    2. Aresen   15 years ago

      That sentence is low by a factor of approximately 42 (assuming the maximum human life expectancy = 120 years and making no allowance for improvements.)

    3. Kant feel Pietzsche   15 years ago

      They wouldn't make it 20 days.

      Symptoms of Hyponatremia (low sodium levels): Fatigue, irritability, headache, nasuea and vomiting, confusion and coma (as the brain cells swell from a H2O overload), heart failure. Hypochloremia (low chloride levels) present pretty much the same, and can also lead to death in short order.

      1. Aresen   15 years ago

        Sounds far too merciful for most politicians.

      2. Joe M   15 years ago

        Symptoms of Hyponatremia (low sodium levels):...irritability...confusion ...coma...

        Sounds like whoever wrote the bill is already following their own no salt rules.

  24. bmp1701   15 years ago

    Is semen salty enough to fall under the aegis of this ban? Just an innocent question.

    1. Jeffersonian   15 years ago

      You go to some weird restaurants, bmp

      1. Kiwi Dave   15 years ago

        I dunno. You anger a waiter in a French restaurant...

        1. Butts Wagner   15 years ago

          In case anyone comes back here:

          http://www.lulu.com/content/4956212

  25. Cabeza de Vaca   15 years ago

    I really can't wrap my mind around how someone can think like this. If this bill becomes law I will completely lose faith in the sanity of fellow countrymen.

    1. Aresen   15 years ago

      Haven't paid much attention to politics, have you? (Or most "Public Interest" groups, either.)

    2. Kant feel Pietzsche   15 years ago

      What the hell kept you? We've been waiting.

  26. Let me interpret   15 years ago

    What if they decide to do a salt raid? I just don't want to hear about swat teams killing any cute dogs. Get on it Balko

  27. eMarkM   15 years ago

    You guys really need to stop re-posting stuff from The Onion.

  28. Pro Libertate   15 years ago

    As a coastal city, isn't there a certain amount of airborne salt in New York? If so, wouldn't a restaurant be liable if it failed to install giant salt removing filters in its A/C system and failed to install seals with airlocks?

    1. wylie   15 years ago

      Plus they'll be prepared for when the sandworms created by AGW/AGCC turn Earth into Dune.

  29. Madbiker   15 years ago

    I would hate to think of what my Everything bagels would become without salt. You cannot taste the garlicky, oniony, sesame seedy goodness without those satisfying rocks of kosher salt mixed in.

  30. Pro Libertate   15 years ago

    You won't be able to call them "Everything" bagels anymore, either. Of course, the fact is, even with salt, they never really had everything, now did they? No haggis, for instance.

    1. Madbiker   15 years ago

      ewww. I do draw a line at stewed lungs stuffed into a sheep's bladder, so I guess they never really did have "everything."

      1. @   15 years ago

        Bladder? That would be gross. They use the intestines.

        1. wylie   15 years ago

          "and traditionally simmered in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours" from wiki.

          Lower ICK Factor IMO. But i think Bourdain had some haggis-type dish in Ireland where the guy did use bladders. For that uric acid effect. Sometime's foodies go too far.

      2. Almanian   15 years ago

        Haggis = gooood. Mmmmmm!

  31. heller   15 years ago

    Feliz Ortiz's other famous achievement are the first US law to ban cell phones while driving, and curiously a bill that would have lowered the drinking age to 18.

  32. Mike C   15 years ago

    Maybe Bloomburg is afraid of salt. You know what happens when you pour it on a slug 🙂

    1. TrickyVic   15 years ago

      I think your on to something.

  33. Fluffy   15 years ago

    Is there any chance that this bill was introduced as a deliberate Swiftian absurdity?

    Because I refuse to believe anyone is this stupid.

    1. TrickyVic   15 years ago

      Bloomberg has been talking about making all food makers cut the amount of salt for a while.

      I could see them introducing the salt ban as a way to get others to settle on salt reduction as a compromise.

      1. Byron   15 years ago

        I concur.

  34. Fluffy   15 years ago

    Assemblyman Ortiz' website contact form is here:

    http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=051&sh=contact

    I sent him a message entitled, "Are you fucking retarded?"

    1. heller   15 years ago

      I did too! Great minds think alike. I also called him a moronic little pest that couldn't keep his nose out of other people's business.

      1. Voros McCracken   15 years ago

        This guy would seem to be ripe for the picking for the old Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide! shtick.

  35. TrickyVic   15 years ago

    Bloomberg thinks government should be a partner in your health. I wonder what he thinks about the idea of government being a partner in his business.

  36. the friendly grizzly   15 years ago

    I imagine the average pants-wetting, sniveling, Bloomberg-worshipping NYCer will love yet one more ring in their noses.

    But somehow I don't think this will go well with the other folks.

  37. TB   15 years ago

    Guess what? This isn't even the stupidest thing Ortiz has introduced recently. Check out his condemnation of provacative children's clothes:

    http://assembly.state.ny.us/me.....tory=35946

    Do you think he even understand what a legislative body is supposed to do?

    1. SIV   15 years ago

      Won't anyone think of the prostitots?

      1. Voros McCracken   15 years ago

        Doing that is even more illegal...

  38. anonymous   15 years ago

    Random question: if a hospital in NY wanted to change the food it served to all of its patients to reduce the salt content by 50%, would the FDA demand a clinical trial?

  39. Mad Max   15 years ago

    Salt causes harm to people, it's like someone hit you.

    Therefore, any restaurant which serves salt should be prosecuted for . . .

    . . . wait for it . . .

    a salt and battery.

    1. Kyle Jordan Prime   15 years ago

      Aye...

    2. Tannim   15 years ago

      Not anymore, because any salt, including assault, would be banned in restaurants, so the customer service will go WAAYY down...and the beatings will continue until morale (and flavor) improves...

      1. Ted S.   15 years ago

        Maybe they only need to ban assault salt, the cartoonishly evil looking kind.

  40. Monkey Navigator   15 years ago

    Then I guess that making cheese from your wife's breast milk -- which most certainly contains NaCl -- is right out:

    http://www.nypost.com/p/news/l.....iD07AX83MJ

    Great comments... Oh wait, this would be a trendy and expensive novelty for the elite... not commercial profit. I guess it can stay.

    1. Tannim   15 years ago

      well, that's a relief to Bob Barr and a disappointment to Borat...

  41. Playa Manhattan   15 years ago

    Here's more on the assemblyman and his war on salt:
    http://www.nrn.com/article.asp.....;id=380356

  42. Hazel Meade   15 years ago

    Things you can't make without salt (to my cooking knowledge.

    Pickles (pretty much all pickle brine has some salt in it)
    Quiche (if you don't put in salt, you get a watery quiche)
    Saag Paneer (needs to be boiled with salt for the greens to dissolve right)
    Cheese (needs the salt to control whey, bateria)

    In other words, New York is going to ban restaurants that make their own pickles, cheese, and quiche.

    Wonder how that will go down?

    1. Kris   15 years ago

      Other things you can't make without salt:

      Food (the kind you eat)

    2. Lord Jubjub   15 years ago

      Also include sauerkraut and lox.
      And many meats found in a deli are made using the dehydration action of salt. You could use sugar, but that wouldn't be the same.

      Has this guy ever stepped into a kitchen?

  43. slymontana   15 years ago

    Let's get specific, cut the rudimentary discussion. Just put out your perspective and move on to something worth thinking about.

  44. cm   15 years ago

    This makes sense for NY politicians who leave a ghastly trail of slime wherever they venture. Think about what happens when they come in contact with salt. It dehydrates their smarmy mucus and they get all shriveled and dried up.

  45. Folkhero   15 years ago

    I sent this letter to assemblyman Ortiz:
    Your proposed ban on salt in restaurants raises a number of important questions. First, have you ever actually prepared food, of any sort, on your own? If you have, you would realize that salt is an essential part of the cooking process in many foods, and it can't always just be added at the table. The second question is: do you realize what this would do to the tourism industry? When traveling somewhere, one of the very most important things I consider is how the food will be. Since I have no family in New York, I would never travel there if this ban passed, and I imagine many New Yorkers would go to New Jersey just to eat. The third question, and I feel this is the most important, even though it might be rude to ask: are you an idiot, moron or otherwise unintelligent person? I feel that the fine people of New York deserve better than that from an assemblyman, and you may want to consider retirement if you are dimwitted enough to sponsor such ridiculous bills without pausing to give thought to the consequences.

  46. Chad   15 years ago

    This is great news. The cost of salt is artificially low because consumers don't bear the costs of salt externalities. Once they start paying for them, we can finally build out the low-salt economy.

  47. bleek obummer   15 years ago

    When you outlaw salt, only outlaws will have salt.

  48. MJ   15 years ago

    WNY legislators should realize what this would do to the legal status of Buffalo's other favorite dish, beef on weck, and act accordingly

    1. Grandpa   15 years ago

      That's "Beef on Wick."

  49. Cosmotarian Overlord   15 years ago

    A Salt tax or ban is a good idea. Salt taxes helped make the great British Empire! You anarchists out there think the government doesn't need revenue. A ban on salt would greatly decrease health care costs in this country and that is in ALL of our interests

  50. wylie   15 years ago

    Then I guess that making cheese from your wife's breast milk -- which most certainly contains NaCl -- is right out:

    Those were some comments. I love the Woman From a Womans' Group: "What's so gross about a woman lactating."

    Miss the point much? It the use in food for adults. In a restaurant. No no, its about people being grossed out about lactating titties. Yeah, definitely the 2nd one...

    (yeah, offtopic, but more interesting that repeating the "wtf, salt is nutritionally and culinarily essential" points the original topic merited and which have already been dutifully covered.)

  51. Barbara Holtzman   15 years ago

    I think the people who have left comments on this blog are the funniest and wittiest I have read in a very long time, anywhere, and I read A LOT of blogs. And without being mean or nasty, quite a trick. Will you all adopt me? Or at least be my facebook friends? Because I think I love you (not really in a weird way. honest.)

    1. Sean W. Malone   15 years ago

      Welcome to Hit & Run, Barbara 😉

    2. R C Dean   15 years ago

      And without being mean or nasty, quite a trick.

      Umm, stick around, Barbara.

  52. Pax Arcana   15 years ago

    Hate to be a buzzkill, but just because a bill is "introduced" does not mean it is likely to pass or already has. Clearly the author of this bill (Felix Ortiz) is asking for something ridiculous, but let's all back off the ledge for a minute and consider the very real possibility that most of the legislature will realize how stupid a salt ban is and refuse it.

    1. Sean W. Malone   15 years ago

      We are all quite aware of that Pax... It's been mentioned upthread as well, even. That said, the *point* is that we actually have politicians who would even consider introducing this kind of idiocy in the first place.

    2. Owen   15 years ago

      Also commented on above is the insidiousness of an extremist bill like this being introduced to force others to consider a compromise that only steals half as much of the people's freedoms.

  53. MyFoodMyChoice   15 years ago

    Sign the petition today to protect your right to make your own food choices.

    MyFoodMyChoice.org

  54. Theresa   15 years ago

    This is the worst idea I've ever heard of. Anyone who knows anything about cooking or has ever watched or read any Alton Brown will know that salt is key to so many foods. Don't believe me try making bread without any salt, but be careful as you'll soon have the blob on your hands.

    1. Lord Jubjub   15 years ago

      Salt is not essential to making bread.

      Salt is essential in EATING bread.

  55. Iason   15 years ago

    I often do take Glenn Beck's advice when looking at legislation and try to follow the money. I cannot for the life of me, follow the money on this one, unless the goal is to lose it for NYS.

  56. Michael   15 years ago

    Global salting. It's ruining the earth. Or something.

  57. Frank Martin   15 years ago

    They have apparently stopped teaching Shakespeare in NY. This guy obviously never read King Lear.

  58. Robertthe size   15 years ago

    Calm down, everyone. It only prohibits the owner or operator from adding salt. They could still hire someone to salt the food.

    1. ExpandingThyroid   15 years ago

      Hi. I'm Roger. I am a professional salter. I design, implement and apply salt onto foodstuffs. I majored in Salting at Oxford. I am a bonafide expert salter. Don't let some restaurant owner go asalting your food when I, an expert salter, am available to heed your salty needs....and wants....desires.

  59. jenny   15 years ago

    Salt is required in cooking, in order to bring out the flavors of food, which would not otherwise be present. Not only that some foods that are not salted during cooking, do not taste right, even if you add salt after the fact. Why is it that people to spend their hard earned money to eat real food in a restaurant have to pay for the sins of their fast food competitors. I understand that there is a lot of sodium in all of those preprocessed foods, and to add more salt on top of that, would be overkill, but at a regular restaurant where real food is to be had? What asinine bastard put that in there?

  60. teddy   15 years ago

    This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of, whats next are they gonna have the sphincter patrol make sure we wipe throughly before we leave the restroom?

  61. Scrap Iron   15 years ago

    Salt is necessary to life. Sure, too much salt is not good (hypertension), but too little salt in the body can result in death.
    So glad I left NYS 32 years ago.

  62. ThePhlegm   15 years ago

    I'm no expert, but don't we die if we don't get any salt?

  63. Fresh Hot Pretzel Guy   15 years ago

    Awwww damn.

  64. High-End Aged Steak Place   15 years ago

    Dude. Word.

  65. Patrello   15 years ago

    If they are doing this for health reasons then the people who can not eat salt should request no salt when their food is being cooked. Why does Amercians allow the govn'ment to run our lives? Are Americans that lazy?

  66. greg   15 years ago

    Your publishing people's emails on this website allowing spammers to easily harvest them.

  67. Bob   15 years ago

    First they came for the smokers, and no one said a word. Then they came for the transfatties, and no one said a word. Now they're coming for the salt. Next they'll come for your McD's. After that they'll come for your meat.

  68. ExpandingThyroid   15 years ago

    What happens when people are in hospitals due to salt deficiencies?? How ironic that a NEW YORK study found that people on low-salt diets were 4 times more likely to suffer from heart attacks.

  69. Frank   15 years ago

    Guess McDonalds won't be salting their fries anymore...

  70. jenny2   15 years ago

    I think they should ban salt in fast food restarants or restarants that pre prepare their food as there is already enough salt in those. now as for restarants that use it to make bread from scratch, or other things that it is essential Ie make the dough rise that should be perfectly legal. excessive salt is bad. but perhaps this radical idea was introduced to get the debate off of an even more important radical idea that needs to pass, but wouldn't have due to controversy.... and everyone just falls into that trap!!!!

  71. stane   15 years ago

    Metoda je popolnoma pravilna, hrano mora? za?initi po kuhanju, pod 65?C, na zgornjo mejo okusa s surovo za?imbo in biocode soljo.
    http://www.salesalute.com

    If you dont understend slovene, translate it to english

  72. Joseph Schmoseph   15 years ago

    Just look up this Ortiz Bozo's record-
    He's introduced dozens of Nanny/Police
    State bills.

    Just search for Assemblyman Felix Ortiz
    Sponsored Legislation at the New York State Assembly - Member Section

    Examples include require ALL autos in NY to have a built-in Breathalyzer
    [Bill #A02632]

    All Autos required to have a blind-spot
    monitoring device [Bill#A06955]

    -I'm guessing side & rear-view mirrors
    won't qualify...
    I wonder if he has friends in the business...

    Adding a $10 cover charge/tax to sex-
    oriented businesses [Bill #A07126]

    Tag & Track all registered sex offenders [Bill #A07525]
    -in the memo it claims Fiscal implications will be minimal. I guess they will require the offenders to pay for their own tracker & pay the salary of whoever is monitoring it as well...

    Establish a tax on Porn [Bill#A08158]

    "A surcharge will be imposed on sexually
    oriented magazines, videos, DVD's or internet websites that feature nude
    pictures or nude performances."

    -How in the HELL are they going to tax
    internet porn sites? Do they think they have the right to wiretap all internet users to find & tax the ones who might be looking at naked pictures?

    Require mfgs to engrave serial #s on all ammunition, require sellers to submit buyers name,address,DL # and other info to the state, and criminalize possession of any non-coded
    ammunition. Establishes a database of
    all purchases. [Bill # A06252]

    Establish a toll-free number to report
    people using cell phones in cars
    [Bill #A06360]

    I wonder if they expect other drivers to use their cell phones to rat out their fellow drivers...

    Fine people $50 who lose their ID cards
    [Bill#A07554]

    Criminalize the downloading of copyrighted materials. Turns the State Attorney General into an internet cop responsible for enforcement. [Bill#A08732]

    -Guess he's getting paid by the MPAA/
    RIAA Mafia... Funny, you can't use the internet at all without downloading
    someone else's intellectual property...

    I'm really glad I don't live in New York State!

  73. Czycix Nemo   15 years ago

    Just look up this Ortiz Bozo's record-
    He's introduced dozens of Nanny/Police
    State bills.

    Just search for Assemblyman Felix Ortiz
    Sponsored Legislation at the New York State Assembly - Member Section

    Examples include require ALL autos in NY to have a built-in Breathalyzer
    [Bill #A02632]

    All Autos required to have a blind-spot
    monitoring device [Bill#A06955]

    -I'm guessing side & rear-view mirrors
    won't qualify...
    I wonder if he has friends in the business...

    Adding a $10 cover charge/tax to sex-
    oriented businesses [Bill #A07126]

    Tag & Track all registered sex offenders [Bill #A07525]
    -in the memo it claims Fiscal implications will be minimal. I guess they will require the offenders to pay for their own tracker & pay the salary of whoever is monitoring it as well...

    Establish a tax on Porn [Bill#A08158]

    "A surcharge will be imposed on sexually
    oriented magazines, videos, DVD's or internet websites that feature nude
    pictures or nude performances."

    -How in the HELL are they going to tax
    internet porn sites? Do they think they have the right to wiretap all internet users to find & tax the ones who might be looking at naked pictures?

    Require mfgs to engrave serial #s on all ammunition, require sellers to submit buyers name,address,DL # and other info to the state, and criminalize possession of any non-coded
    ammunition. Establishes a database of
    all purchases. [Bill # A06252]

    Establish a toll-free number to report
    people using cell phones in cars
    [Bill #A06360]
    I wonder if they expect other drivers to use their cell phones to rat out their fellow drivers...

    Fine people $50 who lose their ID cards
    [Bill#A07554]

    Criminalize the downloading of copyrighted materials. Turns the State Attorney General into an internet cop responsible for enforcement. [Bill#A08732]

    -Guess he's getting paid by the MPAA/
    RIAA Mafia... Funny, you can't use the internet at all without downloading
    someone else's intellectual property...

    I'm really glad I don't live in New York State!

  74. Barry Tumwater   15 years ago

    Welcome to the post Obamacare world. They didn't design a plan with built in incentives to live a healthy life style so they play the one size fits all control our lives game.

  75. Davis Miller   15 years ago

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    I don't know who the house DJ was but he definitely was playing music right up my alley. It would've been my dream for people to start dancing, but it's all good.

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    All in all just a great place to meet new people, or just have drinks with people you already know. I've been to numerous bars in the city but i would say this place is just great. Very welcoming staff, very laid back ambiance. I've been here twice after my first visit with my Cali group . I would say its worth the every penny you spend!!

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    all voilent and sxe oriented games should be destroyed

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  79. sathi2000   14 years ago

    The law may not have a great chance of passing once someone sane gets a look at it, and that's a shame, because as long as salt is legal, pepper and other dehumanizing spices will continue their reign of delicious terror. Change has gotta start somewhere, folks. We don't want our food tasting good.
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