On Food and Cooking

root word meaning “salt,” which is the
original concentrated flavoring, pure mineral
crystals from the sea (p. 639). Our primary
foods — animal flesh, grains and breads and
pastas, starchy vegetables — are pretty bland,
and cooks have found or invented a vast range
of ingredients with which to make them more
flavorful. The simplest are seasonings
provided by nature: salt, pungent black pepper
and chillis, sour juices of unripe fruits, sweet
honey and sugar, distinctively aromatic herbs
and spices. More complex are prepared
condiments, many of them foods preserved
and transformed by fermentation: sour and
aromatic vinegar, salty and savory soy sauce
and fish sauce, salty and sour pickles, pungent
and sour mustard, sweet and sour and fruity
ketchup. And then there are s auces, the
ultimate composed flavorings. The cook
conceives and prepares sauces for particular
dishes, and can give them any flavor. They
always include seasonings, sometimes