Unseasoned food

[ChangeAgainAgainAgain]

I've eaten at a few other people's houses in the last couple of months, and I've really noticed the absence of seasoning, and no salt or pepper mills on the table.

I grew up in the 80's, where salt was added in cooking to everything, so obviously it's great for health that we're no longer adding salt to vegetable water etc.

I don't generally add salt to cooking, but I always put salt and pepper mills on the table, and would generally add some to my plate.

I've recently been served meals such as grilled salmon, boiled baby potatoes, steamed veg, with no seasoning, no herbs, not even butter or EVOO on the potatoes. Or a roast dinner, no seasoning added in cooking at all, not even on the potatoes. No salt and pepper mills on the table. Honestly to me, these meals taste super bland.

Now, I'm an old fogie, and the people hosting me have been various ages, but all younger than me. Is this just how it is now? People's palates have changed?

So, AIBU to say that whilst not adding excessive salt in cooking is a great thing for health, it's normal/polite to have salt and pepper mills on the table?

IANBU - bring on the salt and pepper
IABU - times have changed. Cruet sets have no place in the modern world!

Get yourself a set of these, OP, and pop them in your handbag!

Mini salt and pepper grinders

My MIL doesn't season anything and her food is appallingly bland, but even she puts salt and pepper on the table (thank God!).

Fair enough. Seems like a massive waste of time and effort but just shows people are different!

I don’t routinely add salt and pepper in cooking - but it is on the table .i do use a lot of other herbs and spices . Always somewhat surprised when people salt and pepper before they’ve even tasted something though .

I grew up in the 80s, nothing was salted (or sweetened) and it was almost always wholemeal and joyless.

YANBU. Always put salt and pepper on food, not a ton of salt but just enough it brings out the flavour. Always keep salt pepper, oil and balsamic vinegar on the table. I thought everyone did this!
imagine how boring eggs would be without a pinch of salt.

My mother wouldn't have countenanced anything wholemeal. It might have tasted a bit too much like something.

Things she wouldn't allow;

Salt
Pepper
Chilli
Spices
Herbs
Lemon juice
Lime juice
Vinegar
Fat
Oil unless it was ancient sunflower oil that had been used at least 10 times
Butter. Extra Extra Diet Low margarine was a vague concession to the eldest child
Anything over a 1 in cheese, but that Philadelphia extra extra low fat could be a bit spicy, as could Edam
Egg wash. Brush over pastry made with no salt with some watered down milk and that was just the same, apparently.
Unadulterated milk. Even when reducing the 'heat' of tomato soup with milk, the milk had to have extra water added.
Raw vegetables (other than a billiard ball orange tomato, cucumber or a still wet Iceberg).
Anything smoked.
Anything browned unless it was the cheapest possible sausages in existence, where after soaking in water, they were cremated to 'kill the worms'.
Anything that didn't say 'DIET'.

Her idea of bacon was to get unsmoked, soak it overnight in a mixture of water and some milk, wash it under the tap, soak for another 2 hours in a milk mix, then wave it under the grill for 2 minutes before putting the flaccid strips onto a slice of white to soak up the warmish milk.

She always resented the way I was such a 'faddy eater' but that would miraculously disappear the moment somebody else was cooking. Also deeply resented the frequency with which I'd keel over in hot weather, complain of massive headaches and get cramp as soon as the sun came out.

I think your taste buds are trained to what you are used to. I put not being about to eat a meal without adding salt in the same camp as not being able eat a meal without tomato ketchup.

I am a non seasoner, I do like to add black to lots of my meals after they are cooked.

I grew up in the 80’s but we never had salt and pepper on the table. (I knew it was something people did, just not in our house). My mum used to salt the water for veg and potatoes, but that was it.
I stopped adding salt or pepper to cooking water for veg or potatoes about 25 years ago and have never noticed the difference to be honest. Roast potatoes have plenty of flavour from the meat juices etc without added salt once in the plate. I don’t add any extra flavouring to a roast at all!
I add pepper and other herbs/spices to various meals but never salt as we have plenty of that in our diet from other sources.
I do believe it’s a case of what your taste buds are used to. If you’re used to everything tasting salty then that’s what you expect, whereas other herbs etc give different types of flavours.
I’d never even think of putting salt and pepper mills on the table but wouldn’t be offended if someone asked for them as I know that’s what lots of people are used to.
I only ever (very rarely) put salt on my chips!

If you don't add salt to the cooking water for vegetable, osmosis causes the natural salts and minerals contained in the vegetable to leech into the cooking water. Salting the water appropriately avoids this.

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat explains it all really well, I recommend it.

Yep love salt.

If by horrible horrible mistake I buy unsalted butter, I have to put salt on the butter even if I then have jam on top of that.

Yes, people really dont understand the role of salt. Its not to make things 'salty', its to enhance the flavour that is already there

My OH is like this, wont use salt, really doesnt know how to cook or flavour food.

I hate bland food.

My mum is the queen of bland food, in the summer you can guarantee she’ll make boiled potatoes, and serve them with plain homemade coleslaw, salad leaves and two plain boiled eggs. If she’s feeling a bit wild she’ll add some red peppers.

The thing is if she goes out she’ll avoid bland like the plague, so I just don’t get it! If I served her something underseasoned she would certainly have something to say about it.

I add salt while cooking but much less than my parents did so for my mum my dishes would feel unsalted. So I wonder if it’s something like this. I added spices but again a little bit so for someone who was used to Indian food my cooking would be very bland.

I wouldn’t be offended if you asked for salt. If you asked for pepper/ curry sauce or similar I wouldn’t be offended but I would think that my cooking was not for you and would offer to meet up somewhere for coffee next time.

No butter or seasoning on potatoes ??!! Horrific

Reading this thread sort of explains why the UK has high levels of high blood pressure and heart disease!

It's not the salt home cooks put in their cooking that's the issue. It's the salts added to mass produced food that's causing the problem.

Blood pressure. The reason for the lack of salt. Adding it is known to increase the BP. And, especially as you age, this is not a good thing !
When having guests though rude to not have it on the table. People are able to make their own mind up.
Everyone’s taste sensors are very different. Some will have salt some will love it.

Doesn't apply to me, I despised pretty much everything I was given until I encountered food with flavour.

ETA: maybe that's why some people need the acid, seasonings and umami of ketchup in order to get the food down? They've just been handed tasteless mush all their lives, so had to get some flavour from somewhere.

It must be both. People were told to reduce their salt in the 80s even before the massive rise in pretend food we buy now.

I have to eat a lot of salt due to a medical condition so we always have salt on the table. I don't add to much to cooking as I don't want to kill the kids.

Some people are just bad cooks!
I have a friend like that. I would never ask for salt and pepper though, I just eat the bad meal.

I’m an old fogie and I’ve never put salt and pepper on the table, and neither does anyone I know. But food cooked without seasoning is yuk . I do season as I cook, and I’m trying to cut back a little. To me if you add salt at the table all you taste is salt ! Except chips. You have to have salt on chips !