There is always one easy way to spot a Zimbabwean at a dinner table. He or she will be the first one to reach for the salt shaker, thereafter proceeding to generously scatter grains of the white stuff onto his or her food.

Soups, gravies, meats, veggies – you name it. Extra salt is always a necessity.

The culture is so deeply ingrained (excuse the pun!) in many of us that we don’t even wait to first taste our food – thus gauging its levels of flavour. We just go ahead and shake, shower and rattle more sodium chloride onto it.

And when that precious condiment is found missing at a table, before very long, someone will point out, with frustration, to the host that the munyu is nowhere to be seen.

An unhealthy habit, right?

Absolutely. But try talking cholesterol to any salt fiend and you’ll probably get this answer, “But I can’t taste anything if I don’t add more salt!”

Sure, I’ve heard that people who regularly consume alcohol experience a deadening of their taste buds, hence their desire for more salt in their food. And older people, too, experience a dulling of their senses due to age. So what’s the excuse for the rest of us?

I suppose we are just socialised into the use of lots of salt from an early age. But as for me, I can’t stand it!

My mum and I have had to come to an amicable agreement on the seasoning of our food. After enough winces (initiated by me, of course!) at the saltiness of her cooking, she has decided that whenever she cooks something, she will let me first put the salt that’s adequate for my taste buds. After I have taken my share, she will proceed to add more of it to suit her own preference. The same is true when I cook.

It’s called compromise!

I remember once going for a dinner hosted by an American family here in Zimbabwe. As I recall, the meal was beautiful beef stroganoff served on a plate of fluffy white rice.

“Here, you’ll probably need this,” said the hostess as she passed the salt cellar to me. I took one forkful of food and, after swallowing, replied that the salt was just fine. “No extra salt for me, thanks,” I said. “Gosh,” she said in amazement. “You’re the first Zimbabwean I’ve met who doesn’t add extra salt to my food!”

Ah well, different salts for different folks!

This entry was posted on April 14th, 2009 at 9:43 am by Fungai Machirori and is filed under Uncategorized, Women's issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.