Salt

We finished packing up our things early Monday morning in anticipation of the movers arriving around noon. It was a hectic day full of last minute issues - the local Time Warner location was closed, so I had to travel down to the UWS to turn in our DVR; our bank didn't allow the moving company to debit the full cost of our move until I approved it; the rental car was late; blah, blah, blah. So we finally headed out, leaving our apartment and New York City behind. After about an hour and a half we realized that we hadn't eaten much of anything during the day, and we had another 8 hours of travel ahead of us. So out of desperation, we pulled off somewhere in Pennsylvania, and the only place that looked promising enough for a meal was the restaurant chain Chili's (serious desperation here, folks).

I figured I could get SOMETHING fresh and delicious. Wow, was I wrong. The chips and queso (not my first choice) - chips were greasy and coated in salt. the Queso was not queso...in fact I don't think there was cheese in it at all. Instead it was a brown glob of hamburger meat and salt-riddled sauce. My chicken tacos arrived, and lo and behold the chicken was salty! But worse, the two side dishes (simple rice and beans) were so salty I couldn't even eat them.

So day 1 of our journey west consisted of salt, salt and more salt. When did this become a trend? Or has it been a trend and I just haven't noticed? I mean, for the last decade I've eaten organic and fresh and I've steered clear of restaurant chains (especially fast food chains), so maybe this is normal now. Do people think that salt = flavor? Why? And how can I convince them otherwise??