Salt

Salt

Few inland areas have readily accessible salt; the earliest farming villages tended to grow up around places that did. Cultures often went to great lengths to get salt. Some Chinese drilled deep into mountains and with bamboo pipes brought up brine from salt deposits. Inland farmers in many places relied on river boats and caravans to bring salt. Salt in ancient times was the most valuable single commodity in commerce. At least one writer has pointed out that where salt was plentiful, democratic and independent societies tended to develop, and where it was scarce, those who controlled the salt controlled the people.

So salt has a history as old as mankind, and it is not necessarily an evil substance. The problem now is its high usage in processed foods. Canned vegetables, for example, have hundreds of times more sodium than fresh unsalted vegetables. Salt is added to nearly all processed foods; the taste buds grow used to it, and unsalted food comes to taste plain.

The typical American diet contains six times the salt of a typical hunter-gatherer diet, which is about one-third meat and two-thirds vegetable foods, usually with no added salt. In many hunter-gatherer and fishing cultures, however, some salt was used in drying and smoking game animals and fish, with no associated problems. Individuals eating moderate to substantial amounts of animal-source foods should not add salt to foods and should minimize use of heavily salted items such as pickles, olives, and canned fish. This is particularly important for those with chronic problems. The less animal-source foods that are eaten, the more appropriate the use of tamari or previously salted foods. Salt content in smoked fish and other salted foods varies greatly from product to product. In smoked fish, the subtler, more time-consuming smoking methods use considerably less salt.

Traditionally, soy sauce (also called tamari or shoyu) is made by allowing soybeans, and often wheat, to ferment in water and salt (in wooden barrels, often cedar). Organic brands are free of the additives, pesticide residues, and sugar found in conventionally produced soy sauce. A small amount a teaspoonful or so in vegetable soups or on rice and vegetables adds flavor and is especially appropriate on days when not much animal-source food is eaten. Those choosing to eat little in the way of animal-source foods may use up to a teaspoonful or two daily, depending on the condition and specific diet of the individual.