When did mankind begin seasoning their food?

Seasonings were used well before writing was invented, and they were used by people all over the world. There's no real date to put to the first widespread use, but it would have pre-dated humanity's ability to farm and produce surplus food; salt was a trade item amongst nomadic hunters in Australia. read more

Salt seems to have been the earliest seasoning used though, even other primates use salt licks, like many animals, to keep up their salt levels (salt is a necessary part of our diet). The salt mines at Salzburg predate the use of writing in Europe and have been in use for at least 7000yrs. read more

While people have used canning and artificial refrigeration to preserve food for the last hundred years or so, salt has been the best-known food preservative, especially for meat, for many thousands of years. read more