ALL ABOUT SALT
As always, Foggy Bottom’s Whole Foods is bustling. As I navigate down the stairwell in search of salt, I take note of the other shoppers. Many look like students, carrying backpacks and sporting casual clothes—ripped jeans, beanies, and sweatshirts with bright logos. Others are dressed in business attire, with slacks and fancy leather shoes (maybe its Italian leather?). Most everyone is wearing thick coats and heavy scarves, reflecting the cold temperature outside. On the lower floor, I notice that most people are crowded in the produce section—specifically around the bananas, apples, and oranges—as I search the aisles on a mission to find my product: salt.
Salt—or sodium chloride—is a staple ingredient in cooking. I remember watching countless shows on The Food Network as a young kid, always hearing the celebrity chefs praising salt for its ability to “make food taste more like itself.” I’ve chosen this product because I want to learn more about its variety, use, and importance in our cooking culture.
As I weave through the aisles, I finally find the salt display in an aisle that carries a huge variety of items: soy & rice milk, breakfast bars, spices, baking needs, sweeteners, and cereal. As I turn toward the beautiful spice shelves and run my eyes across the display, I do not find salt mixed among the other spices. I continue to peer through the stacked display, noticing cute bottles of “Spanish Saffron” and “Sage Leaf.”
These bottles are tightly packed onto the shelves, immaculately organized and pleasantly packaged. The shelves are neat enough to appear in Good Housekeeping magazine, with all the labels facing front and the glass bottles reflecting the lighting in a way that makes them sort of glow.
Then I finally find what I’ve been looking for. Way, way, way down on the bottom two shelves sits the salt. There is a huge selection, stretching from the far left of the display shelf to the far right. Unlike the other spices which are mostly packaged in small, glass bottles, the salt packaging is not uniform. The less expensive versions like basic Kosher Salt are packaged in tall, cardboard cylinders with large lettering and bright colors. The more expensive options like Himalayan Salt (i.e. the pink one!) come in chic glass bottles, well-decorated boxes, and even re-sealable bags. The branding on these expensive items uses more muted colors and smaller letters. As I scan the huge variety, I notice that the cheaper options are on the lowest shelf, closest to the floor (photos in the right column).
In contrast to other spices, the two shelves of salt are messy and poorly organized. Not all the labels are facing forward, the products are pushed far back on the shelves, and the price tags don’t accurately reflect the product. The wide display of just two shelves is not aesthetically pleasing—at least in my opinion. This organization is so awkward that taking pictures is difficult. I have to position myself low to get an angle on the camera, but the narrowness of the aisle makes it impossible to capture the entire display in just one shot. The bad pictures that accompany this post prove how difficult it was!
Smoked salt, Celtic salt, salt flakes, kosher salt. I could go on and on. Whole Foods is not at all lacking on variety. Next up: I’ll check out a convenience store!
Signing off for now.
-- Lauren Petersil
Quote of the Day: “The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.” – Karen Blixen