There is some deviation in the subject's question. As a condiment, monosodium glutamate was born in modern times and benefited from the development of chemistry. As a necessity of human body, salt appeared in people's life very early; The Chinese character "salt" was clearly recorded in China as early as the Warring States Period.

The earliest salt mainly came from seawater, that is, "boiled brine", which is called sea salt. Humans have long discovered the close relationship between salt (sodium chloride) and the body. Salt is so important that it has been a special business in China for generations, and smuggling salt is a big crime. Even today, salt, as a special commodity, is still managed and operated by full-time departments, and all kinds of illegal acts have been severely cracked down.

Well salt is the main source of salt in southwest China. In Luoquan Ancient Town, Zizhong County, Sichuan Province, there is the only salt temple in China, and Shang Yang was named Salt god during the Warring States Period. In addition, there are still ancient salt wells in Jingyan County, Zigong City and Daying County, Suining City, which have become a major local landscape.

In the early 1980s, some emerging large-scale catering institutions put up signs such as "secret recipe of the palace" and "imperial cuisine" to attract customers. In those days, some media interviewed Pu Jie, Yu Yan, Yu Jun and other family members who had experienced court life, and asked their views on this. Several gentlemen said that the cooking skills of imperial chefs in past dynasties were really superb, especially in the selection, collocation, processing and modeling of raw materials. But if we are realistic, not everything can be dominant in "color, fragrance, taste and shape", and even some dishes are not as good as the taste of ordinary home-cooked dishes today. The reason for this is that there were not many condiments at that time, and many dishes were eaten directly with salt.

This is one of them. On the other hand, many master chef still give up soy sauce and monosodium glutamate when cooking. They think that these two spices are too overbearing, masking the taste of other natural spices such as pepper, star anise and pepper. Therefore, these chefs who insist on traditional cooking skills emphasize the delicious flavor of the food itself, and the cooking process is to let the food release its inherent taste to the maximum extent; Or mix several kinds of foods reasonably and let them mix together to produce a higher level of taste.

It can be seen that under the premise of only salt, the ancients can still use the original flavor of food to cook delicious food. Whether it is monosodium glutamate for refreshing or cooking wine for removing fishy smell, it is unnecessary to use it. It depends on the chef's personal cooking skills and habits.