Salt
Salt
Salt is what makes your food taste good. Salt is also necessary to maintain a number of bodily functions. We need salt to live. Access salt has driven conquest and collapse. Salt production facilities were often the first targets of invading armies. Access to salt allowed people to preserve food and was historically a scarce commodity. Innumerable people have died from lack of salt or in the effort to obtain it. We know the name of the remote African city of Timbuktu because it was a major salt trading hub.
It is easy to underestimate salt but for most of human history access to salt meant life and often wealth. At various times salt was used as a currency, even trading in equal measure to gold. Roman soldiers were paid, at least in part, in salt. The words soldier and salary are likely both derived from the Latin word for salt, sal.
Salt has been vilified. Salt is related to hypertension and other health problems. I don’t know what to tell you, it tastes good. Each of