Might as well face it, you're addicted to the other four letter word.

I really like salt. No, that's not strong enough. I love salt. Um, almost. I am IN LOVE with salt. That's it. Madly, deeply, completely in love with salt.

I like regular salt. I also like iodized salt, although I can't tell you which tastes better or is better for me. I think iodized salt is supposed to help protect me from some disease. Sea salt is nice. Kinda chunky. Rock salt is something I used to steal from big bags in the carport. Seasoned salt. Garlic salt. Kosher salt. Black salt. Pickling salt (oh dear yes).

I found this:

Salt tastes good for a few reasons.

1: It's necessary for your survival. Salt is sodium and chloride, both of which are crucial for the functioning of a lot of your body's systems.

2: It's rare in nature, so we have evolved to crave it. It's the same reason why fat (butter, oil) and sugar taste good.

3: It's been part of the first world's food culture for a while now, and something we come to expect from some foods. We're more or less "used" to having tons of salt on our food, and some of us are, to an extent, addicted to it.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1fbvqo/eli5_why_does_salt_taste_so_good/

Catch that last part? Those last three words. "addicted to it." I can relate.

Comments

  1. Casey
    I read a book a few years back by a US food writer/critic who did a heap of research into salt (amongst other things) and came to the conclusion that, for most folk, the health issues/risks are overstated. As another salt lover, I checked out some of his sources and references and came away worrying less. Will try to find the title for you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think it might have been The Man Who Ate Everything Paperback
    by Jeffrey Steingarten

    http://www.amazon.com/The-Man-Who-Ate-Everything/dp/0375702024

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I still want to read the passage you sent me! Thanks for doing that.

      Delete
  3. Iodine in salt helps to prevent goiter. A long time ago those people far inland had generations of goiter because they had no source of iodine in their food, which were fish and seafood.
    So the government put iodine in salt and shipped them inland. Everybody use salt to cook :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That it a pretty good (teacher like) story. Well, I can't taste the difference, so I'm going to use whatever is handy. Hopefully I don't have goiter in my future.

      Delete
    2. Iodized salt taste funny to me :P

      Delete

Post a Comment

This is where you come in...

Popular posts from this blog

Her Cottage

Hotel

My Brother is a Spectacular Man