The Argentinian Salt Debacle

First off, let me apologize for the terrible delay in my blog posts.  Just last Friday, I was all excited to continue what was supposed to be a consistent Monday-Wednesday-Friday posting schedule, when BAM! No internet.  The router wasn't working for some reason, and it took a while to finally determine that no amount of troubleshooting could fix it.  The thing was shot.  Oh well.

Now, a more dedicated blogger would probably head up to the nearest Starbucks or other such establishment, order a latte with a pinch of salt, and get to work.  But I am a two-post novice.  I wasn't ready for the burden of, well, expectations.  Which brings us here.  A week later, and no activity.

But now it's fixed!  The router, I mean.  Or more accurately, I got a new one.  In all honesty, this happened yesterday, so I might have posted something then, except that A) Thursday is not Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, and frankly, I like order; and B) I was a bit distracted yesterday playing Minecraft (which I was finally able to update to 1.8 (go here, if you've not heard of Minecraft)) and petitioning Notch to add salt blocks.  Yay, Internet.

But salt!  I should say something about salt.  So before I get back to my regular schedule of topics (and I have a long list of things to say about salt), I'd like to briefly discuss an article I came across just today.  The article is a bit outdated (June 11, 2011), but it's still worth noting:

"SALT SHAKERS DISAPPEAR FROM BUENOS AIRES TABLES"

*Gasp!*  Could it be true?  But it is.  It looks like Argentinians aren't complying with the World Health Organization's standards and, on average, are consuming eight more grams of salt than the daily recommended maximum dose (a meager five (that's only about a teaspoon)).  Now I don't know about you, but I eat at least double the amount of salt that the average Argentinian eats, and I'm doing just fine, but the Argentinian government (el gobierno) has deemed it necessary to remove salt shakers from all restaurant tables in the Buenos Aires province as well as to reduce the amount of salt that provincial breadmakers use by at least 40%.

Eff no.

Now, in the policy's defense, patrons can still request salt, "but only after [they] have tasted their food."  If I go to Buenos Aires, I'm bringing my own salt.  I don't want to be babysat when I eat.

I picture myself, bumbling through some Spanish:
"Me gustaría... sal, por favor."
"¿Han probado su comida, señor?" says the waiter.
Silence. "¿Qué?"

Professional egotist, Angelica Slom, has this to say about the policy: "For me, this is perfect.  In reality I would not miss [a salt shaker] if it was not on the table."  It would not surprise me if she was a smoker.

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You can read the article here: http://articles.cnn.com/2011-06-11/world/argentina.salt_1_daily-salt-intake-shakers-hypertension?_s=PM:WORLD