479504 Tue Jan 15 06:14:37 -0800 2008 1 58 Italy 0 3296594 I will be traveling to Rome soon and, unfortunately, I am on a low-sodium diet. Most breads and cheeses have too much sodium for me to eat. As do most sauces (at least here in the US, though any added salt for me is too much). I can eat plenty of pasta, olive oil, vegetables, and meats (as long as no salt is added). How difficult will this be? Would it be easy to convey to Italian staff that no salt be added to my meals? I don't want to be rude and I don't know how familiar they would be with such requests. Any advice? Thanks. Tue Jan 15 06:14:38 -0800 2008 157449 solder608 1 3297415 Nowadays restaurants are used to everybody having some kind of food issues, whether for legitimate medical reasons or because they heard something on TV that day, so don't worry about asking for special treatment. Just know that in Rome cooks tend to have a heavy hand with the salt, so you want to make sure certain foods have been prepared just for you. Thus I would try to dine on the early side before things get hectic. There is one kind of bread in Rome that has no salt at all, called (in Rome) tipo Terni (after a town in Umbria) or pane sciapo (pron SHA-po), meaning in general lacking in salt (and metaphorically lacking in zip). You can buy it in any ordinary food shop, but it is rarely seen in restaurants. Where I see trouble is salt in the pasta water, if that's a problem for you. That is where you're going to have to beg for special treatment, but if you go early .... Sale, of course, is your key word, and senza, without. You can say "Devo mangiare sciapo, assolutamente senza sale." More concisely: niente sale, to which you might want to add: veramente (really) or sul serio (seriously), per la salute (for my health). Tue Jan 15 10:00:13 -0800 2008 3296594 83777 mbfant