Taste Of Salt

Award-winning novelist Martha Southgate (who, in the words of Julia Glass, “can write fat and hot, then lush and tender, then just plain truthful and burning with heart”) now tells the story of a family pushed to its limits by addiction over the course of two generations. Josie Henderson loves the water and is fulfilled by her position as the only senior-level black scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. In building this impressive life for herself, she has tried to shed the one thing she cannot: her family back in landlocked Cleveland. Her adored brother, Tick, was her childhood ally as they watched their drinking father push away all the love that his wife and children were trying to give him. Now Tick himself has been coming apart and demands to be heard. Weaving four voices into a beautiful tapestry, Southgate charts the lives of the Hendersons from the parents’ first charmed meeting to Josie’s realization that the ways of the human heart are more complex than anything seen under a microscope.

Every Life Makes a Story Djo has a story: Once he was one of "Titid's boys," a vital member of Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide's election team, fighting to overthrow military dictatorship in Haiti. Now he is barely alive, the victim of a political firebombing. Jeremie has a story: Convent-educated Jeremie can climb out of the slums of Port-au-Prince. But she is torn between her mother's hopes and her own wishes for herself ... and for Haiti. Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide has a story: A dream of a new Haiti, one in which every person would have a decent life ... a house with a roof ... clean water to drink ... a good plate of rice and beans every day ... a field to work in. At Aristide's request, Djo tells his story to Jeremie -- for Titid believes in the power of all of their stories to make change. As Jeremie listens to Djo, and to her own heart, she knows that they will begin a new story, one that is all their own, together.

From a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter at The New York Times comes the troubling story of the rise of the processed food industry -- and how it used salt, sugar, and fat to addict us. Salt Sugar Fat is a journey into the highly secretive world of the processed food giants, and the story of how they have deployed these three essential ingredients, over the past five decades, to dominate the North American diet. This is an eye-opening book that demonstrates how the makers of these foods have chosen, time and again, to double down on their efforts to increase consumption and profits, gambling that consumers and regulators would never figure them out. With meticulous original reporting, access to confidential files and memos, and numerous sources from deep inside the industry, it shows how these companies have pushed ahead, despite their own misgivings (never aired publicly). Salt Sugar Fat is the story of how we got here, and it will hold the food giants accountable for the social costs that keep climbing even as some of the industry's own say, "Enough already."

Reducing the intake of sodium is an important public health goal for Americans. Since the 1970s, an array of public health interventions and national dietary guidelines has sought to reduce sodium intake. However, the U.S. population still consumes more sodium than is recommended, placing individuals at risk for diseases related to elevated blood pressure. Strategies to Reduce Sodium Intake in the United States evaluates and makes recommendations about strategies that could be implemented to reduce dietary sodium intake to levels recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The book reviews past and ongoing efforts to reduce the sodium content of the food supply and to motivate consumers to change behavior. Based on past lessons learned, the book makes recommendations for future initiatives. It is an excellent resource for federal and state public health officials, the processed food and food service industries, health care professionals, consumer advocacy groups, and academic researchers.

The key to confident cooking lies not in learning to follow intricate recipes but rather in mastering a select handful of truly appealing yet straightforward dishes that invite experimentation and improvisation to reflect the seasons and the cook's own palate. In Salt to Taste, Chef Marco Canora presents a tempting repertoire of 100 soulful recipes that embody this philosophy perfectly: food that is comforting and familiar but with a depth of flavor and timeless appeal that mark the dishes as true essentials of the contemporary table. Each meticulously written recipe offers insightful lessons drawn both from memories of his mother's cooking and his years as one of New York's most respected chefs, guiding the way to a delicious dish every time. Extensive chef's notes suggest ways to streamline the process and enhance the savory results, marrying the precision of the professional kitchen with the warmth of home cooking. Those looking to elevate their cooking from merely good to truly spectacular will find much here to inspire them, while those in need of culinary coaching will learn that creating greatness is within reach. With a little forethought, care, practice, and observation, any cook can quickly gain the confidence to "salt to taste."

This engaging and approachable (and humorous!) guide to taste and flavor will make you a more skilled and confident home cook. How to Taste outlines the underlying principles of taste, and then takes a deep dive into salt, acid, bitter, sweet, fat, umami, bite (heat), aromatics, and texture. You'll find out how temperature impacts your enjoyment of the dishes you make as does color, alcohol, and more. The handbook goes beyond telling home cooks what ingredients go well together or explaining cooking ratios. You'll learn how to adjust a dish that's too salty or too acidic and how to determine when something might be lacking. It also includes recipes and simple kitchen experiments that illustrate the importance of salt in a dish, or identifies whether you're a "supertaster" or not. Each recipe and experiment highlights the chapter's main lesson. How to Taste will ultimately help you feel confident about why and how various components of a dish are used to create balance, harmony, and deliciousness.

Concerns have grown that consumption levels of salt are well above those needed for nutritional purposes and that this can lead to adverse effects on health, in particular cardiovascular disease. Consumers are increasingly looking to reduce their salt intake, making salt reduction a priority for food manufacturers. This is not straightforward, though, as salt plays an important role in food preservation, taste and processability. Written by a team of international experts, Reducing salt in foods provides a unique review of current knowledge in this field. This book is divided into three parts and discusses the major issues concerned with salt reduction and how it may be achieved. Part one reviews the key health issues driving efforts to reduce salt, government action regarding salt reduction and the implications of salt labelling. Consumer perception of salt and views on salt reduction and are also discussed. The second part focuses on the technological, microbiological and sensory functions of salt and strategies that can be taken to reduce salt. The final part of the book outlines strategies which have been taken to reduce salt in particular food groups: meat and poultry, seafood, bread, snack foods, dairy products and canned foods. Reducing salt in foods is an essential reference for health professionals, governments and food manufacturers. Discusses methods to reduce salt while maintaining food sensory quality, shelf-life and processability Provides a unique review of current knowledge in this field An essential reference for health professionals, governments and food manufacturers

Salt (NaCl) is a key component of the human diet because it provides the sodium ion (Na+), an essential mineral for our body. Na+ regulates extracellular fluid volume and plays a key role in many physiological processes, such as the generation of nerve impulses. Na+ is lost continuously through the kidneys, intestine, and sweating. Thus, to maintain proper bodily balance, losses have to be balanced with foods containing this cation. The need for salt explains our ability to detect Na+ in foodstuffs: Na+ elicits a specific taste sensation called “salty”, and gustatory sensitivity to this cation is crucial for regulating its intake. Indeed, the widespread use of salt in food products for flavoring and to improve their palatability exploits our sense of taste for Na+. When consumed in excess, however, salt might be detrimental to health because it may determine an increase in blood pressure--a major risk factor for many cardiovascular diseases. Understanding how salt taste works and how it affects food preference and consumption is therefore of paramount importance for improving human nutrition. This book comprises cutting-edge research dealing with salt taste mechanisms relevant for nutrition and health.