Did the wartime generation salt their food more than we do today?

I often have a glass of water so have a 'salt lick' after!.....tipping a few grains in the hand and licking it up!

Some years ago I was following a strict, weight reducing, healthy diet consisting mainly of salad and fish.

One day I was coaching in a gymnastic club - it was a very, very hot day, and the gym and lots of windows which did not open, so it was extremely hot in there. I was actually crouched down on the floor, supporting a child, when I realised that I could not stand up. Literally, was too weak to be able to manage that. It was most scaring.

Evenutally, I managed to pull myself up with the help of some equipment, feeling very nauseous and shaky,. I knew I was hot and went into the cool foyer and then realised that I wanted, desperately, to have salt. Never before or since had this sort of sudden craving. In the canteen I poured some salt on my hand and had a salt lick. Within a few minutes I started to feel better.

I realised that the heat had made me sweat so much, I had probably sweated out too much salt - I was taking in very little due to my diet.

Made me very aware how important this to our well-being.

A memory of childhood (along with the liberty bodices!) was the Sunday night salad, along with the sticks of celery and salt to dip them in. This thread has brought that memory back.

I don't cook with salt and we add it to very few things chips tomatoes and lettuce

I think it's a good point that even those of us (me included) who don't add salt automatically, whether in cooking or at the table, may consume as much as previous generations who ate no processed food.

I cook from scratch and don't buy ready meals, but also eat out and get takeaways. I also buy bread, which contains a lot of salt, and it is hidden away in so many things.

My mum always cooked with salt, and both she and my dad added it at the table without tasting their food. I find this strange, but since I married 40 years ago I haven't added it or cooked with it, so my tastebuds will have adapted. I really dislike heavily salted food.

I lived through WW2 and my Mum was a very good cook, but I can't remember her using salt. She was always very health conscious.
My main memories are lots of fresh fish, and her beautiful pastry. Did lard contain salt?

dragonfly Why do say most people do not eat frozen vegetables? They are a good deal cheaper than fresh ones and, because they are frozen as soon as harvested, they retain their nutrition until cooked. Fresh ones start to lose that as soon as they are picked so, unless they are eaten very soon after picking, they are not so good for you.

I live alone since my husband died and so rarely buy fresh vegs unless I can get them in small enough quantities to be able to eat them almost immediately. I use a lot of the steam bags which contain a mix of vegetables — just enough for one.

Gosh - I remember my grans cooking greens till they sagged, and putting loads of salt in.

Maybe there was such dull food available during the war that salt was the only thing to give it any taste at all.

I dunno Hetty, I remember my grandfather, long dead, telling me he avoided salt because he had high blood pressure. A very slender man, so certainly not due to his weight.

Maybe the current fashion of trying to lower salt intake is due to concerns about high blood pressure.

Our grandparents and parents tended to get plenty of exercise in their daily lives so perhaps didn't need to worry about it.

People used to add salt to vegetables and use salt at the table. Still, their consumption was probably lower, on average, than ours.

So many processed foods now have salt added that, unless we cook everything from scratch (as they used to) we're unaware of just how high our intake really is.

I’ve seen sea salt and pink Himalayan salt mentioned a few times as a healthier alternative to cooking/table salt. But apart from the texture or colour are they not almost the same high sodium content?

I follow the Keto way of eating, no sugar and very low carbohydrates, no processed food. I eat fatty meat, cook with real fats and have butter, eggs, cream and cheese. Leafy green veg. I season all of my food using pink Himalayan salt. Food is very tasty, my husband says he doesn’t want his meals to end he is enjoying them so much. I feel healthier and have lost weight. I have no illnesses.

The dangers of using too much salt were never an issue in the past - same as smoking, sunbathing, etc.

The point I was making paddyanne was the habit of sprinkling salt over the meal without tasting it first.

If it is then deemed to need more salt, fair enough but it does seem silly not to at least try it first.

I wonder if some restaurants deliberately over-salt their food to increase drinks sales?!

Oopsminty my granny wouldn't eat tomatoes if they didin't havesugar on them ,the difference to the flavour is amazing

Eggs, tomatoes, maybe chips, though I rarely eat them! Otherwise, no salt. It’s like reducing sugar - you get used to it!

I always cook with salt pasta needs salt to have any flavour as does porridge .I think if you're cooking from scratch food has to be seasoned.We dont eat processed food or takeaways so I know everything that goes into a dish .I think that with salt people can be obsessive about not using it,when we do need it .As for chefs being upset about their food being salted ,why would they ? They must understand that evryones tastes are different and some prefer more salt than others .I used to work beside two men one who carried a bottle of hot sauce in his pocket and one who asked for ketchup regardless what he had ordered.I dont remember any chef or waiting staff being annoyed about it,its not their job to dictate how we eat the food we pay for .

My mother always added a pinch of salt to vegetable cooking water. But nothing else if I remember rightly. Also we never had salt on the table.

I used to love shelling peas, outside my Grandma's kitchen door in the sun, well before lunch when I did it. Very Lark Rise to Candleford. I also remember sinkfulls of very salty water to remove endless greenfly and beasties from cabbage, cauli, Brussels sprouts, and lettuce - which was tossed in a little sugar in those days in our house, perhaps because the vinegar was strong malt and the olive oil very unpleasant and in tiny bottles from the chemist ?!?!?!? ?

My job when I was a child was shelling the peas.
That's why I like frozen ones.

I reckon 99% of people use frozen peas, Callistemon!

I do love a real pea but I don't grow them and never see them anywhere.

As for salt, my Grandma was in her 40's during the war. She would put salt in all vegetables and there would be salt and pepper on the table. In the cutest pots which I still have!

She also would toss a salad with a small amount of sugar!

Not sure if that was just her.

My father used to say “You need more salt!” to my mother, who suffered night cramps. I don’t know if that is true or whether sea salt (which I use in moderation) makes much difference against ordinary salt?

Far fewer interesting flavours and spices available back in the day, I would guess. So salt would add some zing to potentially bland food.

My uncle had kidney problems and salt was removed from his diet. The only thing he couldn't manage without it was potatoes.