Have you noticed any of your former favorite foods being ruined by oversaltiness lately?

Maybe it’s just me and my tastebuds. Then again, maybe there’s something to it. I used to be a huge fan of Gulden’s mustard, but the last time I had some, maybe 10 years ago, I was disgusted my the way it ruined my sandwich. They (ConAgra, with the emphasis on the first syllable), claim that the recipe hasn’t changed in over 100 years, so all I can assume is that genetic mutilation has reduced mustard seed to an impotent shadow of its former self.

Decades ago, I had a subscription to Cheeselovers International, which offered gourmet and specialty cheeses on a monthly basis. I remember reading about a bleu (maybe it was even Roquefort, but definitely not “blue”) cheese that was light on the salt, because salt in excess is only needed to cover up inferior cultures. The same company, I believe, used to offer caviar, and again, I was told that it was lower in salt and richer in flavor than those from hatcheries that had to add salt to “approximate” the flavor of the authentic item.

Having been to several of George Soros’s Open Society Institute holiday parties in Manhattan at the end of the 90’s and the early part of the millenium, I’ve been privy to the taste of the real thing, and the tiny roe crap that’s sold in the stores in little jars is so piss-poor by comparison that I’ve gotten freebies by complaining about the salt. In fact, I remember my “cheapskate” parents buying cans of fish roe that tasted better in the early 60’s!