Why do eateries have dented salt & pepper shakers? I mean, really? You can buy a whole bunch of them at the Dollar Store, so they're easy to replace. It also signals to customers that the shaker has probably fallen on the floor. Things that look like they fell on the floor do not belong on the table.
Last year, a TV talk show featured an episode where "swab samples" from 20 random purses and bags (that were placed on the ground that day) proved that half of them had remnants of feces on them! That comes from dog (or rat) poop that's been on the floor... or tracked indoors by people's shoes from dirty pavement (or subway floors). Dented shakers look ugly, and they hint that their owners are unsanitary.
Consider all the people who use them with unwashed hands, or what dirty-handed kids played with them, or who sneezed/coughed on them. Do you really think the underpaid busboys or kitchen staffers clean or sanitize them? They probably should. If they don't care, that's a bad sign of what is occurring inside the kitchen.
How often do the restaurants empty each shaker and refill them? Or do they just pour new stuff on top of the old? That's not smart, and it's lazy. It means that some of that salt and pepper could be very old and not circulated.
If eateries must use shakers, I recommend ones that load from the bottoms, so the older stuff gets used first.
Worthwhile chefs deplore shakers, saying "the stuff inside is as stale as dirt". Like me, they prefer "grinders" for fresh-tasting salt and pepper. They also load from the top, and ensure that the older spices are used from the bottom.
A word to the wise: appreciate eateries that offer those aforementioned salt & pepper mills--where you can crack your own fresh spices over the food you paid for. As a final note: you can detect an eatery that understands protocol when its servers take away the S&P after the main course is finished… and before the dessert arrives.
Cheers!
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