Editing Fish sauce (section)

== History ==

=== Asia ===
Sauces that included fermented fish parts with other ingredients such as meat and soy bean were recorded in [[China]], 2300 years ago.<ref name="history">{{Cite web |last=Butler |first=Stephanie |date=2012-07-20 |title=Ketchup: A Saucy History |url=http://www.history.com/news/hungry-history/ketchup-a-saucy-history |access-date=2017-04-04 |website=History}}</ref> During the [[Zhou dynasty]] of ancient China, fish fermented with soybeans and salt was used as a condiment.<ref name="web1">{{Cite web |title=调料文化：酱油的由来 |url=http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/www.godpp.gov.cn/wmzh/2007-10/11/content_11376810.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120130171757/http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/www.godpp.gov.cn/wmzh/2007-10/11/content_11376810.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=30 January 2012 |access-date=2018-06-21 |publisher=Big5.xinhuanet.com}}</ref><ref>[[:zh:酱]]</ref> By the time of the [[Han dynasty]], soy beans were fermented without the fish into [[soy paste]] and its by-product [[soy sauce]],<ref name="needham2000">{{Cite book |last=Hsing-Tsung |first=Huang |title=Joseph Needham: Science and Civilisation in China, Vol.6, Part 5 |date=2000 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0521652707}}</ref>{{RP|346, 358-359}} with fermented fish-based sauces developing separately into fish sauce.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kurlansky |first=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kK7ec92n5x8C |title=Salt: A World History |publisher=Walker and Co. |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-8027-1373-5 |location=New York |page=20}}</ref> A fish sauce, called ''kôechiap'' in [[Hokkien]] Chinese, might be the precursor of [[ketchup]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gandhi |first=Lakshmi |date=2013-12-03 |title=Ketchup: The All-American Condiment That Comes From Asia |work=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/12/02/248195661/ketchup-the-all-american-condiment-that-comes-from-asia |access-date=2017-04-04}}</ref><ref name="McGee" />{{RP|233}}

By 50-100 BC, demand for fish sauces and [[fish paste]]s in China had fallen drastically, with fermented bean products becoming a major trade commodity. Fish sauce, however, developed massive popularity in Southeast Asia. Food scholars traditionally divide East Asia into two distinct condiment regions, separated by a bean-fish divide: Southeast Asia, mainly using fermented fish (Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia), and Northeast Asia, using mainly fermented beans (China, Korea, Japan). Fish sauce re-entered China in the 17th and 18th centuries, brought from Vietnam and Cambodia by Chinese traders up the coast of the southern provinces Guangdong and Fujian.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lim |first=Lisa |date=2017-07-21 |title=When China invented ketchup in 300BC, and how it morphed from a preserved fish sauce to sweet tomato gloop |work=South China Morning Post |url=http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/2103418/when-china-invented-ketchup-300bc-and-how-it-morphed |access-date=2018-11-25}}</ref>

=== Europe ===
Fish sauces were widely used in ancient [[Mediterranean cuisine]]. The earliest recorded production was between 4th–3rd century BC by the Ancient Greeks, who fermented scraps of fish called ''[[Garum|garos]]'' into one.<ref name="McGee" />{{RP|235}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Farnworth |first=Edward R. |url=https://archive.org/details/handbookfermente00farn |title=Handbook of Fermented Functional Foods |date=2003 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=0849313724 |location=Boca Raton, Florida |page=[https://archive.org/details/handbookfermente00farn/page/n34 22] |url-access=limited}}</ref> It is believed to have been made with a lower salt content than modern fish sauces.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Grainger |first=Sally |title=Fish Sauce: An Ancient Condiment |url=http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/gf/gf111001dashboard_dining_tha |access-date=26 October 2011 |website=Good Food SAT 1 OCT 2011 |publisher=National Public Radio}}</ref>

The [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] made a similar condiment called either [[garum]] or liquamen.<ref name="McGee" />{{RP|235}} According to [[Pliny the Elder]], "garum consists of the guts of fish and other parts that would otherwise be considered refuse so that garum is really the liquor from putrefaction."<ref>[https://www.loebclassics.com/view/pliny_elder-natural_history/1938/pb_LCL418.435.xml?readMode=recto Natural History] Pliny, the Elder. LoebClassics.com</ref> Garum was made in the Roman outposts of Spain almost exclusively from mackerel by salting the scrap fish innards, and then sun fermenting the flesh until it fell apart, usually for several months. The brown liquid would then be strained, bottled, and sold as a condiment. Remains of Roman fish salting facilities can still be seen, including in [[Roman fish salting factory|Algeciras]] in Spain and near [[Roman ruins of Creiro|Setúbal]] in Portugal. The process lasted until the 16th century when garum makers switched to anchovy and removed the innards.<ref name="McGee" />{{RP|235}}

Garum was ubiquitous in Classical Roman cooking. Mixed with wine it was known as ''oenogarum'', or with vinegar, ''oxygarum'', or mixed with honey, ''meligarum''. ''Garum'' was one of the trade specialties in [[Hispania Baetica]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wilkinson |first=Paul |title=Pompeii: The Last Day |date=2003 |publisher=BBC |isbn=9780563487708 |location=London |chapter=Introduction}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=April 2017}} ''Garum'' was frequently maligned as smelling bad or rotten, being called, for example, "evil-smelling fish sauce"<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Curtis |first=Robert I. |date=1 January 1983 |title=In Defense of Garum |journal=The Classical Journal |volume=78 |issue=3 |pages=232–240 |jstor=3297180}}</ref> and is said to be similar to modern ''[[colatura di alici]]'', a fish sauce used in [[Neapolitan cuisine]].{{who|date=May 2017}}

In [[English language|English]] ''garum'' was formerly translated as ''fish pickle''. The original [[Worcestershire sauce]] is a related product because it is fermented and contains anchovies.

<gallery>
File:Factoría de salazones 001.jpg|Ruins of a Roman [[garum]] factory near [[Tarifa]], Spain
File:Fábrica romana de Salga 05.jpg|Ancient Roman garum factory in Portugal
File:Garumamphoren.JPG|Two amphoras for garum
</gallery>