"SaltAndPepper" news and stories

I am one of those people who is not to be trusted when there's a bag of potato chips nearby. Once the bag is opened, it seems to whistle a tune only I can hear and I'm drawn to its call until I cave and start munching. Because of this weakness, I try to keep potato chips out of my apartment and walk by that aisle in the grocery store swiftly, with head averted.

I'm afraid that my will to avoid potato chips has been broken by these Kettle Chips Baked Salt & Pepper ones. They are perfectly seasoned with a satisfying crunch. They are easy to eat by the handful and don't leave you feeling greasy or overfed. As far as I'm concerned, they might just be the perfect chip.

What would a dinner table be without its salt and pepper? They've become so ubiquitous in everyone's kitchen. However, we rarely wonder why. Both were heavily used in cuisine for hundreds of years, but so were several other spices. What made people focus on salt and pepper?

The story begins with salt. In Ancient Rome, it gained popularity as a condiment. Italians during the Renaissance served salted dishes at the same time as sugared dishes. It was not until the 17th century that the French created a salt-sweet divide. Salted foods were eaten throughout the meal because they stimulate the appetite. Sweet plates were served at the end; they satiate the appetite and shutdown our desire to eat.

It was in France that salt met its inevitable spicy partner, pepper. 17th-century Classic French cuisine, which developed at the court of Louis XIV, considered pepper and parsley as superior to the various spices imported from the Middle East. In fact, it viewed all spices as vulgar ingredients masking the true flavor of a dish. Pepper was the only spice acceptable. And, it eventually attained the same status as fine herbs which were thought to be more wholesome and exquisite. The French heightened the importance of pepper giving it the status it has today.

We love salt and pepper shakers of all kinds here - after all, what would food be without seasonings? It would be boring. And while it doesn't hurt to have an interesting set of shakers on the table, there is such a thing as having ones that are too interesting. Creepy, even. These chicken feet salt and pepper shakers let you "shake a leg" in seasoning your food, but they still look like chicken feet and they might be disconcerting to see on the table. They're also $50 per pair, and at that price, I'd rather spend the money on some expensive salt than ceramic feet.

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For some reason salt and pepper shakers seem hideously expensive to me. Decent stainless steel twisty ones never seem to be under £30 a pair. I have taken to putting my Malden sea-salt in a little dish and just using my hands as my twisty one doesn't; twist that is. These don't fit my needs or my price bracket. Nor my taste either come to that.

Kitsch or just crap? Glazed semi-porcelain ice cream salt and pepper shakers. From an original 1970's mould apparently. They certainly had style back in the 70's. Not sure whose mind...

Ice Cream Salt and Pepper Shakers £89 from Couverture.

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