Hello, I am a new member. I am a hobbiest anthroplogist. I was looking for an
anthroplogy group to join, and I came across this group. I read the
introduction, and I don't know how long before it will be before I am kicked
off, but you guys and gals are way off on the history of salt and man. Of
course, I don't mean the Saltsman's from Ohio that I know.

Lets take a look at that introduction statement. Man was not stupid in the
beginning. Cooking, canning, smoking, baking, and food preservation were
discoveries to man. However, you are assuming that too much of a difference
exitsted between us now and man from the past, which I think is wrong to assume.

I would never adhere to some thing that indicates that people increased their
salt consumption in the past not because I know it is illogical, but what
function has man lost that he can't take on more salt? None, in my opinion.

I have a medical backgroud, and as humans, just like other animals we will crave
certains tastes that are biological and cultural related to our physical make up
and our up bringings. However, I don't believe that man had to have super
salted foods in the past, even though we might have foods and preserved foods
that contain high sodium levels.

Now lets take a look at sodium, soda, salt, rock salt, episum salt, white salt,
and salt water. Do we use these in cooking, baking, smoking, and food
preservation? Take a look at your baking soda and yeast containers and see what
the product is make of even though it might be bought from the store, look at
the contents. Furthermore, I know that some people can confuse baking soda with
plain white soda, but I am not talking about soda pop here or the stomach remidy
soda that goes plop, plop, fiss, fiss.

For traditionalists, I would not promote that some how in the past that man
could with stand a high sodium and salt level that we cannot do today. Some
meats are semi-cured by rubbing salt on them, so I think you might have the
amount of salt needed for the curing process might greatly out weighs what
actual salt content ends up in the meat. I don't think man could physically
stand that much salt in his mouth with food. Furthermore, some ancient people's
were acustomed to the salt box, which is not table salt but a hygenic and slight
food preservation method where a lot of salt is needed to line and fill the box
to store some meats temporiliary before being cooked, baked, or smoked.

We may also have different diffintions of what is actual food curing that
requires salt. Fully cured, semi-cured, or dired cured.

Looking forward to the discussions.

Becky DeWitt