To wonder why no one seasons food anymore

We are a house of sea salt lovers too. Sea salt (or pink himalyan salt) is important source of trace minerals and make food taste delicious. We eat very little of upf and don’t use any table salt (which is processed and stripped from all the essential minerals).

If you said you’ll give up sugar, you’d get everyone here to tell you that life is for living, everything in moderation, just eat the cake and so on. But wanting to add salt is giving everyone vapours. Salt is essential for humans, refined sugars isn’t.

I'm guessing people just weigh up whether they want salty food or to avoid a heart attack.

I like a sprinkling of salt on my chips and in a pasta sauce. But no, don't require it on meat. I don't eat dry meat though, always have gravy or a sauce.

I don't season ie use salt or pepper on meat or fish if I am roasting grilling or frying (in my 70's) I will slightly season sauces. I do add appropriate herbs and so on and other flavourings. I never have done. I don't salt the water that I cook vegetables in either. Its not for health reasons, I just don't like it and prefer to add salt and pepper to food when its on my plate.

I'm 40 and season everything
Not to taste salty but to draw out water, intensify flavours etc
Salt, pepper, herbs, spices, pastes... I like to layer seasonings throughout the dish

Visiting my daughter for lunch - cooking a roast. I remarked that she hadn't added any salt and pepper to the meat before cooking. She looked at me as if I was mad and said of course not - salt is bad for you.

I'm in my 60's and growing up all meat was seasoned before cooking (no other way of doing it) and of course people could add more afterwards to suit their taste.

I agree with @HyggeTygge on P1 - you probably need to look up the meaning of the word 'everyone'.

My siblings and I are the same age as you - my Mum would be in her 90s if she were still with us. My Mum never added Salt and Pepper to meat when we were growing up, nor her Mum before her (and she was born in the 19th Century).

I wouldn't consider salt and pepper to be seasoning tbh. I add flavours, I wouldn't just cook meat with its own flavour, even with salt and pepper.

Same, I never had salt to my roast dinners and they taste just fine. There are loads of other ways to season foods.

I remember someone on MN once asking why the dishes she made so carefully at home, never tasted as good as exactly the same at a restaurant.

As someone replied, ‘Butter and salt’.

But a roast chicken, spuds and plain steamed/boiled/roasted veg with no salt added would be flavourless.
Rubbish. That's exactly what I just ate. It tasted of chicken, potatoes and veg. Not tasting salty doesn't make it flavourless. It was delicious.

I don’t season meat before cooking - unless you count brushing a chicken with garlic butter before putting it in the oven.

I do often add salt and pepper to my own food at the table, though.

Why add salt. I'm with your daughter and tbh I don't know anyone who adds salt now. Yabu.

No decent cook or chef would not use seasonings.

This.

I think having to have loads of salt on everything is a habit that you begin to think you need as your sense of taste gets dulled over the years. You get used to no longer over salting everything and you can taste the food much better.

Going to admit to being a house full of salt lovers here, but my family all seem to have genetically low blood pressure. I tried going on a low salt diet years ago and felt like I was about to pass out.

I always thought that when you add more salt at the table, you end up adding more. I'd probably use a pinch of salt at the table but if I was cooking, I wouldn't use that much more across a whole meal.

Mine too. I never season during cooking as I absolutely loathe salt & pepper. If it's too bland for people, tough! Add your own seasoning to suit your own taste.

Ugh I can't stand unseasoned food, it just tastes depressing, although I'd never tell the cook that. I suppose some people do genuinely enjoy unseasoned food and think its lovely, but I can't. My mother is in particular really odd about it. She doesn't season anything. Doesn't use salt in her pasta water, likes to serve up slices of carrots boiled in plain water and no other flavourings. Yet she absolutely loves salt at the dinner table and plasters all her food in it. So she'll serve up dry, dessicated unseasoned roast beef for example, and then smother it in salt. I don't know why she doesn't season as she cooks instead of dumping half the Dead Sea on her plate at the end. Food is much tastier if it's seasoned as you cook and then only a little bit of salt added at the end to adjust for individual preferences. I always season as I cook, err on making things a tad under seasoned and then add the right amount of salt at the end to finish it off to make sure I don't accidentally over salt the dish

My personal pet peeves are unsalted tomatoes in any capacity. Tomatoes taste so much better with a pinch of salt

Most people will get plenty of salt in their diet without adding it as seasoning to meat. Home made bread & better will contain some, most people occasionally eat preserved meats which have a lot of it. Its in condiments as well and most ready made foods have quite a bit.

I don't add much salt at all. Its not necessary. Your palate very rapidly adjusts to not having it and food with lots added just tastes awfully salty.

Not to mention its already there if you've got anything like gravy using granules, a sauce with a stock cube etc

The history of adding a lot of salt and pepper was to preserve meat when refridgeration wasn't an option, but also to hide if something was somewhat on the turn!

Salt cases strokes & I loathe the taste of pepper.

Salt is not bad for you. Too much salt is bad for you. You are likely to be eating too much salt if you eat lots of processed foods which can have ridiculous amounts of salt added. Seasoning your food will not equate to you eating too much salt.

I season most food. As do most people I know.

We don't add salt to cooking water for veg or rice etc. but I would season most meat when cooking and I add salt to most one pot recipes for example.

We don't generally add salt at the table unless it's roast potatoes 😀

Funny that! Chefs add salt when cooking, people in Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, known for their cuisines, unlike the Brits who are famous for poor cooking skills, all add salt when cooking, and you think that if you can't cook without salt you're a bad cook???

My MIL also does not add any salt to anything these days, but some foods do need it. Good news though that people, especially kids, are getting used to not having additional salt.

If you can’t make food tasty without salt, you’re not a great cook.

I can’t think of many chefs who wouldn’t use salt!

Yep. Salt is important for our bodies, not enough is also bad. Medical advice is to reduce not to quit.
Btw. on hot day I would totally go for salt as we sweat a lot and our organism have problems with keeping and taking water in.