Savor Scout › Eating out with a restriction › low-sodium
Eating out on a low-sodium diet
Restaurant food is salted much more heavily than home cooking, and most of the salt is in places you can't see: sauces, brines, stocks, breads and cured meats. Low-sodium eating out is possible, but it takes asking.
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What actually goes wrong
Salt is in nearly every restaurant component before it reaches your plate. Meat is often brined; sauces and soups are built on salted stock; bread, cheese, cured meats, pickles, olives and condiments are high in sodium. Even a 'simple' grilled chicken may have been brined for hours.
Soy sauce, fish sauce, miso, teriyaki, barbecue sauce and many spice rubs are among the saltiest ingredients in restaurant cooking. Soups — including healthy-sounding ones — are often among the saltiest dishes on a menu.
Portion size compounds it. A restaurant serving is often twice a home serving, so even a moderately salty dish adds up.
What to ask, and how
- Can this be cooked without added salt? — Many kitchens can for made-to-order dishes.
- Sauce and dressing on the side — So you control the amount.
- Is the meat brined or marinated? — Unbrined, plainly grilled protein is lower in sodium.
- Skip the soup, bread and pickles — Or share them.
- Lemon, herbs or vinegar instead — For flavour without salt.
Which cuisines make this easier
- Easier — Mediterranean and Greek (grilled fish, vegetables, olive oil and lemon), Indian dishes cooked to order, steakhouses with plain grilled meat, seafood restaurants with simple preparations, salad and grain bowl places with dressing on the side.
- Harder — Chinese, Japanese and Korean (soy sauce, miso), Thai and Vietnamese (fish sauce), barbecue, delis, ramen and soup shops, pizza, and anything cured, pickled or fermented.
How Savor Scout helps
Savor Scout can find made-to-order kitchens, grilled dishes and places that mention accommodating dietary requests, which is where low-sodium requests are most likely to be honoured.
What this does not do. No menu lists sodium content accurately for made-to-order food, and brines and stocks are invisible. Follow the guidance of your own doctor or dietitian.
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Cuisines worth reading up on
Greek food, seafood, salads, steak
Situations where this comes up: where to eat when you're trying to eat healthy, where to take a client to dinner, where to eat with grandparents.