this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2026
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Explanation: Romans were inordinately fond of a kind of fermented fish sauce they called garum. Like wine, it had low-quality varieties, which, also like low-quality wine, were considered the essential part of even a slave's rations; and high-quality varieties, which could cost a year's wages for a common laborer for a single container! The Romans put their fermented fish sauce in everything - on their bread, in their porridge, on their salads, even in their wine! De gustibus non disputandem est - there's no accounting for taste!
Philippines a common combination is fermented shrimp paste and mango.
It's kinda a pineapple + ham on pizza effect. The super salty combines with sweet/sour surprisingly well.
Cheapish protein and salt I guess?
USians love our sugar that overwhelms the rest of the world, though, so can’t throw stones on taste weirdness lmao
The protein in it probably doesn't matter nutritionally. Modern fish sauce is like 25% salt and <10% protein, you use only a couple of drops or small splashes per meal. You generally want to filter most solids out to keep it easy to pour/splash/drop.
It's a bit hard to tell if roman fish sauce was the same, but judging by Tasting History's attempt at making historically accurate garum it was probably quite similar to modern east/south-east-asian fish sauces.
And it becomes so full of umami.
Even as an American, US sweets are a bit much at times tbh XD