Fish sauce is a liquid condiment made from fish or krill that have been coated in salt and fermented for up to two years. It is used as a staple seasoning in East Asian cuisine and Southeast Asian cuisine, particularly Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Some garum-related fish sauces have been used in the West since the Roman times. Due to its ability to add a savory umami flavor to dishes, it has been embraced globally by chefs and home cooks. The umami flavor in fish sauce is due to its glutamate content. Fish sauce is used as a seasoning during or after cooking, and as a base in dipping sauces. Soy sauce is regarded by some in the West as a vegetarian alternative to fish sauce though they are very different in flavor. History Asia Sauces that included fermented fish parts with other ingredients such as meat and soy bean were recorded in China, 2300 years ago. During the Zhou dynasty of ancient China, fish fermented with soybeans and salt was used as a condiment. By the time of the Han dynasty, soy beans were fermented without the fish into soy paste and its by-product soy sauce, with fermented fish-based sauces developing separately into fish sauce. A fish sauce, called kôechiap in Hokkien Chinese, might be the precursor of ketchup. By 50-100 BC, demand for fish sauces and fish pastes 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. 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 garos into one. It is believed to have been made with a lower salt content than modern fish sauces. The Romans made a similar condiment called either garum or liquamen. According to Pliny the Elder, "garum consists of the guts of fish and other parts that would otherwise be considered refuse so