All I can say is that Ortiz is freaking insane! He also knows nothing about cooking. Salt is an essential ingredient. If it is banned every restaurant in NY will be tits-up inside a week.
This is beyond stupid.
I await an apology from all the anti-smoking hand-wringers who assured me this would NEVER be the logical endpoint of regulating individual health choices.
Wow! Who bans salt?
It appears, the restaurants can’t use salt to make the food, but the customer can add table salt to their hearts desire. This, in theory, gives the customer control over their salt intake.
This is fine up to a point (say Denny’s), but once you get past that level of restaurant, it’s absurd. McDonalds banning salt and then you adding it to the hamburger and fries, ok. But, I mean, all restaurants in New York? That would be the last place this would pass because the chef talent there is huge and this is pretty demeaning.
I guess If I ever visit NY I will have to bring a canister of chlorine and vial of sodium on the plane. Nobody will take my salt away. 
But doesn’t food taste better if the salt is cooked in. I’m not disputing there is too much salt in food in general, but there must be a better way to control it
I am originally from New York. News like this makes me even more glad I got the hell out.
I guess the slippery slope does exist after all, when it comes to government interference in what should be a private matter and not their concern. Land of the free? Less and less every day, it seems. We used to be afraid of the police state. Now instead we get the nanny state.
But guys, salt isn’t good for you. I don’t want to be exposed to your salt. You want salt? Fine. But don’t force me to eat your salt.
Frankly, I think people should be forced to keep all their saltiness at home.
Arrrrr ye salty dog. Arrrrrr
Will sugar be next?
Will the legislature put the entire state on a low carb diet?
Adding salt during cooking brings out the flavor. Adding salt at the table makes things salty.
I really don’t see this ever passing. Salt is used in pretty much everything, even desserts. This guy probably never cooked a day in life. Or he knows it’s not going to pass and is trying to make some weird point.
Yeeeeah, we’ll get back to you on that, just as soon as we figure out how smoking and salt are anything alike. :dubious:
Seriously though, how does this law deal with Koshering meats?
Creme Brulee isn’t good for you.
Eggs have cholesterol. Cream has fat. Loads of processed sugar. There’s even a pinch of salt in there.
Seems only logical to ban creme brulee.
Anybody want to take a stab at the hundreds of other unhealthy recipes that people have been consuming for years/decades/centuries?
It’s worth noting that this salt ban hasn’t passed, but I think the trans fat ban there did pass. Seems like there was a soda tax either proposed or passed as well.
I’ve been chided for suggesting that a consequence of UHC would be government restrictions on unhealthy behavior. Looks like New York is gearing up for pre-emptive strikes on the eve of UHC passage. I made a post regarding “death salad” a while back in this forum, mostly tongue in cheek, it’ll be interesting to see how close to the mark it was in coming years.
Reminds me of a line from Sleeper, “You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or… hot fudge?”
I would hazard a large sum that he in no way actually wants this to pass. He just wanted some free publicity for his “health concerns” without having to take a side on more important and divisive issues.
You ban salt and only the criminals will have salt!
While I’ll certainly agree that a salt ban is absolutely ludicrous, I note that this is just “proposed legislation” at this point. Which means that there’s at least one whacko in the NY state legislature. That’s not news. If it actually passed, now that would be news, but don’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen.
This is not at all analogous to the trans-fat ban, by the way, because the evidence is pretty strong that trans-fats are just plain bad (not just bad in excess, the way salt or anything else is), and there exist viable alternatives to trans fats that are not as bad (whereas salt’s fundamental enough that there’s no alternative to it).
Anybody else having bad flashbacks to Demolition Man?
What in the hell are all the frau frau restaurants in NYC supposed to do with their stockpiles of Himalayan blue salt?
Count me in as someone who thinks this is remarkably stupid. I used to work at a restaurant here in Cincinnati that specialized in nouvelle cuisine in the late 1990’s/early 2000’s and we didn’t have salt or pepper shakers on our tables. We had them, but you had to ask. The idea being of course that our talented chef/proprietor would season the dishes in the kitchen and that they should be consumed as is when presented to the diner. They didn’t need additional seasoning.
This is almost as bad as the proposal to ban foie gras on ethical grounds in Chicago restaurants awhile back…what ever became of that? Fuck PETA and their ilk. I love me some tasty duck/goose liver, preferably cut right off the lobe, seasoned, seared and plated with some brioche and maybe a tangy fruit of some kind and a reduced sauce.