Salt of the earth, fat of the land. Right, sugar?

NOTE: Michael Moss, author of Salt Sugar Fat, speaks Friday night at Town Hall.

Real food in Seattle. Top row: carrot-ginger purée at Tilikum Place, caponata and cappellini at Il Corvo. Bottom: meatballs at Agrodolce, vacherin at Edgewater, Eton Mess at The Whale Wins.

The food scandal is not, as some would have you believe, that there's horse meat in the burgers (in Britain, in Italy, in Spain). Nestlé says so, honest. Frankly, unless you're a die hard, Bruce-Willis-loving vegetarian, a little horsing around would probably be good for you. (Yippee ki-yay, etc.)

No, the real scandal is the one wafting under your nose, crunching twixt your teeth or melting 'neath your tongue. As reported by Michael Moss in the NYTimes, Big Food is no longer battling for market share but fighting for your taste buds. (The subtitle is "Inside the hyperengineered, savagely marketed, addiction-creating battle for American "stomach share.")

Indeed Nestlé, Kraft, Nabisco, Unilever, General Mills, Procter & Gamble, Dole, Campbell Soup, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Mars and Mcdonald's, and Yum! Brands are spending tons of cash on R&D to figure out how to seduce American eaters, get us literally addicted to their junk food, and then sell us ever more. Not fresh food, not good food, but processed and enhanced industrial substances that keep us alive (barely) between our morning pop tarts and our midday snacks. Mmm, mmm, yuk.

But let's not be too hasty. Mr. Moss's study may be exhaustive but it's a misguided missile aimed at the wrong target. Salt, fat and sugar in and of themselves are not the reasons we are a well-fed but ill-nourished nation.

Allow me to quote from an email I solicited from the nation's pre-eminent salt researcher, Dr. Morton Satin, who is no stranger to regular readers of Cornichon.

"I was not particularly impressed with the Moss article.  He seemed to stress personalities as much as issues, which is probably good for press - unfortunately the characters he portrayed were lacking somewhat in their understanding of food culture.  It's probably the way we are all going and that attitude will eventually migrate to Europe, but some countries still understand food culture and tradition. I know most of the characters he was talking about. The story of Finland's success (1) by the way is the greatest piece of nonsense there is. I'm surprised Moss fell for it.

"With reference to salt, his notion of addiction is interesting. Think about it for a second. We are addicted to all essential metabolites (or nutrients). If we would not be we would get ill or die.  Salt is one of those essential nutrients. The question is whether our current consumption levels represent essential physiological needs or are they a psychological addiction.

"The best example can be taken from our salt consumption patterns (and this applies to most countries, not just the US). Up until the end of WWII we consumed about twice as much salt (18-20g) as we do now (8.5 - 9g). In the 10 years after the war, our salt consumption dropped by half and has stayed there since then. The drop was because refrigeration replaced salt as the primary means of food preservation. This drop in salt consumption occurred without any anti-salt campaigns, without government regulations, without widespread fear of salt and without Mayor Bloomberg. We all simply gravitated to a higher quality (fresher) food supply because of the cold chain. (Bear in mind that what we consider all the traditional 'gourmet' foods are still preserved with salt.)

"So from 1945-1955 we dropped salt consumption by half - and we have stayed there ever since - why?  Why is that same general level of salt consumed by every country around the world - regardless of culture, level of development and economic status?  Based on all the studies carried out in the last ten years, whenever we go below our current salt consumption, we experience increased health risks for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, dehydration and reduced cognitive function.

"Among the unintended consequences of salt reduction:

"Insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, congestive heart failure, diabetes (Types I and II), increased cardiovascular events, loss of cognition, increase of stress, dehydration and increased morbidity and mortality.

"So reach for the goddamn salt shaker, already."

(1) The Finland study Dr. Satin refers to--a reduction by almost half in salt consumption--resulted in no appreciable increase in longevity. The research is here.

A reminder that your comments are welcome.