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Why Salt Was So Important Throughout History

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Re: Why Salt Was So Important Throughout History

#21

Post by kaycebasques »

vfc1 wrote: post #17

With the advent of refrigeration, we need salt less than ever. The problem is that brands have used it to gain a comercial advantage, to the point where if we eat some processed food and dont add any extra salt, we are already exceeding the daily recommended limit. The link between salt and hypertension is well known by the general public, but less well know is that salt is a major cause of stomach cancer. There is j…

I always thought that refrigeration was the nail in the coffin for demand for salt as a preservative, but the book mentioned in the article points out that it started with canned food. I never appreciated how innovative that approach must have been at the time. Stick the food in a sealed can and then heat it up. Although, apparently Ancient Romans and Chinese had used that technique, but for some reason it lost popularity until its rediscovery in the 19th century.

Re: Why Salt Was So Important Throughout History

#23

Post by rebuilder »

menacingly wrote: post #22

I'm usually a fan of our "of general intellectual interest" type articles, but this one doesn't quite justify its existence. It's not very satisfying to read a list of the things you'd roughly guess from reading the headline.

The article is just a host for affiliate links.

Re: Why Salt Was So Important Throughout History

#24

Post by cup-of-tea »

lgessler wrote: post #16
cup-of-tea wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if you remove the salt from one, it becomes crumbly and dry If you remove the salt it is not a sausage. The word sausage comes from Latin salsus meaning "salted". Salad and sauce also come from this root (more obviously in the Spanish salsa ).

If you showed a tube of ground meat to some people and asked if it looked like a sausage, most would agree it does without insisting that you check to see if it has salt. While you're right about the word's etymological history[1], there is nothing that prevents words from obtaining new meanings that might seem like they're at odds with their etymological histories. A good example of this: nice[2]. [1]: https://www.e…

So are you actually claiming that ground meat is sausage or that anyone would think it's a sausage upon cooking and tasting it, regardless of how it looks?

Re: Why Salt Was So Important Throughout History

#25

Post by ljcn »

hobs wrote: post #20
kaycebasques wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Salary is another word that has its roots in salt. It harkens back to Ancient Rome, when soldiers got paid in salt.

The roman soldiers did not actually get paid in salt, or if they did, it was more like a ration, not their actual pay. People say this all the time, and its patently wrong - salt was not a rare resource in italy, the sea is everywhere.

I agree it would be surprising if they were paid in salt, but the OED says

Latin salārium, originally money allowed to Roman soldiers for the purchase of salt, hence, their pay

Re: Why Salt Was So Important Throughout History

#26

Post by lgessler »

cup-of-tea wrote: post #24
lgessler wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you showed a tube of ground meat to some people and asked if it looked like a sausage, most would agree it does without insisting that you check to see if it has salt. While you're right about the word's etymological history[1], there is nothing that prevents words from obtaining new meanings that might seem like they're at odds with their etymological histories. A good example of this: nice[2]. [1]: https://www.e…

So are you actually claiming that ground meat is sausage or that anyone would think it's a sausage upon cooking and tasting it, regardless of how it looks?

Regardless of how people actually do turn out to use the word sausage, my point is (1) that you could imagine alternate histories in which any combination of those meanings could be attached to the word "sausage" (2) there is no principled way to insist that one of these combinations is the "correct" one.

Re: Why Salt Was So Important Throughout History

#27

Post by kaycebasques »

hobs wrote: post #20
kaycebasques wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Salary is another word that has its roots in salt. It harkens back to Ancient Rome, when soldiers got paid in salt.

The roman soldiers did not actually get paid in salt, or if they did, it was more like a ration, not their actual pay. People say this all the time, and its patently wrong - salt was not a rare resource in italy, the sea is everywhere.

> salt was not a rare resource in italy, the sea is everywhere

If I recall correctly, the book from the article mentions that the sea is an inefficient way to gather salt. The salinity is just much lower than what you can find in underground brine springs. It also goes into how Italian city-states went to war over control of saltworks, and how it hugely increased the wealth of whoever controlled it. So although it may not have been rare, I don't think it's accurate to paint it as an abundant resource, either.

Interesting about the misinformation around the etymology of "salary." Thanks for pointing out. Found an article [1] that goes into more depth about how there's no evidence for the explanation.

[1]: http://kiwihellenist.blogspot.com/2017/01/salt-and-salary.ht...

Re: Why Salt Was So Important Throughout History

#28

Post by kaycebasques »

rebuilder wrote: post #23
menacingly wrote: post #22

I'm usually a fan of our "of general intellectual interest" type articles, but this one doesn't quite justify its existence. It's not very satisfying to read a list of the things you'd roughly guess from reading the headline.

The article is just a host for affiliate links.

I wrote the article. Yes, I'm trying to use affiliate links to make this passion project more sustainable in the long term, but I'm definitely not just cranking out content for the sake of sales. I'm actually quite discouraged at the moment because I can't get any traffic to the affiliate. I'm 90 days in and my account will be canceled if I don't get 3 sales by 180 days.

My general strategy is to write about books that I happen to be reading anyway. I'm finding that it's a great way to deepen my knowledge retention of the books that I read. It took me about 5 to 7 hours to synthesize the contents of the book into these main themes. If you read the book you'll find that it's organized very differently from the themes that I've identified.

So, sorry if it's coming off as garbage affiliate content just created for the sake of sales. Definitely not my intention.

Re: Why Salt Was So Important Throughout History

#29

Post by kaycebasques »

menacingly wrote: post #22

I'm usually a fan of our "of general intellectual interest" type articles, but this one doesn't quite justify its existence. It's not very satisfying to read a list of the things you'd roughly guess from reading the headline.

What would make it worth your time?

Re: Why Salt Was So Important Throughout History

#30

Post by menacingly »

kaycebasques wrote: post #29
menacingly wrote: post #22

I'm usually a fan of our "of general intellectual interest" type articles, but this one doesn't quite justify its existence. It's not very satisfying to read a list of the things you'd roughly guess from reading the headline.

What would make it worth your time?

Oh, I don't think it's a bad article, I think it's a bad article/audience fit for HN. In my mind, the reader here maintains a pretty high bar for interesting, since I think of it as a curious, exploratory bunch who have already scratched the surface on a wide array of topics.
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