When you have salt, you can use less of a spice. Salt used to be rare, so more spices were needed. If your choice was between "rice and egg with pepper" and "r

When you have salt, you can use less of a spice. Salt used to be rare, so more spices were needed. If your choice was between "rice and egg with pepper" and "rice and egg without pepper", you would choose with pepper if you could afford it. It simply was that huge of a difference.