Salt city
Saskatoon - Friday, September 28, 2012
I believe if you don't try to do something about a problem, you are part of the problem. I tell you this because I have only a few favourite restaurants and one of them is East Side Mario's. For some years there has been one in Regina and we often pay it a visit when we are in town and want a nice lunch. I was excited to discover that they now have an outlet in Saskatoon and Wednesday we went there for lunch.
Now for us the usual lunch at East Side Mario's is their “all you can eat soup and salad special.” The soup is a vegetable soup or Italian Wedding and the salad is always just excellent. My last visit in Regina I had ordered the “all you can eat soup and salad” but had only one bowl of soup and one salad. The Italian Wedding soup had been so salty, I really didn't want anything more. Based on that, I decided to go with a turkey club sandwich and a bowl of soup. In a moment of weakness I ordered the Italian Wedding soup.
Mario's serves fresh bread with the meal and after cleaning up a couple of small rolls, the waitress brought the soup and sandwich I had ordered. My soup was salty, I had assumed that the last bowl I had, the one in Regina, was so salty because of the generous helping of parmesan cheese, but this time no cheese and I was starring at a bowl of brine.
I have a rule that comes from my childhood. If it is served, you eat it, there are children going to bed hungry in Indian, it is a sin to waste food. So I choked down the brine with meatballs then turned my attention to the sandwich.
It was a toasted single deck sandwich, with lettuce, perhaps some cheese, tomato, bacon (very thin) and a nice stack of sliced turkey. When I lifted the sandwich to my mouth, I noticed the grit on my fingers, then bit into it. I was holding in my hands two slices of toast and nothing else could be tasted, only salt. I could visually make out the contents, but all my mouth sensed was salt.
My glass of water quickly emptied. I normally have decaf, but this Mario's does not serve brewed decaf, but I could order instant. Somehow paying $2.59 for instant coffee just doesn't seem right.
Wiping the salt grit from my hands, I ate the sandwich then borrowed some of my partners water, because mine was long gone.
When the waitress came to see how things were, I told her. No decaf, salty soup and ridiculously salty sandwich.
As my wife consumed her second soup, I realized I am a total idiot. Why did I eat that sandwich, when clearly I should have sent it back to the kitchen, but a life time of cleaning up your plate is a difficult thing to deal with.
The salt sandwich was deducted from our bill, but I spent the rest of the afternoon seeking out more fluids.
Years ago, I cut back on salt, I rarely put it on anything but tomatoes and we have home made soup at home. So, it is likely, the soup (but not the sandwich) is the way restaurants make soup, salty. On the weekend, I had a nice soup at Moxies and it did seem to have a bit of salt, but it was fine. I will not order soup at Olive Garden in Winnipeg and pass on soup in most other restaurants, all of it is to salty.
Now, I am not the only person to notice this problem. Health Canada and even the United Nations has complained about the high levels of salt in Canadian processed food. Check those labels in your store and see how many foods have more than 20% of your daily recommended intake of salt in a single serving. That kind of salt is bad for your health, no matter what your age, or condition.
North Americans consume excessive salt and since many people eat out a lot, they are consuming restaurant food which is salt with something, but mainly salt.
I love Mario's but from now on it is a no go zone for me.