If the phrase season to taste was a person, it might be Julia Coney. The Washington, DC-and-Houston-based wine consultant, journalist, and regular traveler has spent a decade perfecting her personal bring-your-own spice and condiment kit, which includes more than half a dozen finishing salts, Calabrian chili oil, cracked black pepper, everything seasoning, dehydrated lemon juice, Kyoord olive oil, Cholula and Original Louisiana hot sauces, Bon Maman honey, and Dijon mustard. She repackages the products as needed (she prefers Muji containers), labels each one, then zips them into a pouch branded with the words “EMERGENCY SNACKS.”
Coney deploys her so-called “seasoning package” as insurance against bad or flavorless meals on the road. But she’s been known to break it out in fine-dining settings, too. What if an upmarket pizzeria has red pepper flakes, but not her preferred chili oil? Or sea salt, but not Coney’s desired crunchy “big flake” Maldon?
“It’s mainly because I’m particular,” she explains. “People will laugh at me, and then they’re like, ‘Wait, that’s genius. Can I take a picture?’”
Few take pocket seasoning quite so seriously, but an informal social media poll I conducted reveals that plenty of diners—chefs included!—carry their own additives when dining out, from Heinz ketchup and Sweet’N Low packets to mini Tajín, hot sauce (the Ninja Squirrel brand, if you’re Hillary Clinton), gochujang, vinegar, and, most frequently, salt, which can take the form of every imaginable flake and color. Chalk it up to a collective spice and condiment obsession, which grows more nuanced by the day. Brands seem all too happy to enable us.
But is it a faux pas to break out a BYO seasoning kit in a restaurant setting?
Some chefs argue there’s a time and place for it, as in more casual settings like breakfast joints or taverns. “If a restaurant is known for a particular point of view, I’d encourage guests to try the dish first and be respectful of the restaurant’s culinary intent,” says Jonathan McDowell, culinary director at FORTH Hotel in Atlanta.
Matthew Dion, executive chef of Southern-inspired Lowland in Charleston, South Carolina, agrees that it depends on the restaurant and the dish. “We like to think we season our food well, but sometimes a guest wants a hit of hot sauce or a little extra seasoning,” he admits.
