The exact origin of the sausage is unclear, with reports ranging around 50,000BC. There is an agreement, however, that the sausages, frankfurters, and hot dogs that people eat on a daily basis originated¹ from a desire to preserve meat.

香肠的准确起源并不清楚，大约在公元前50000年就已经有了相关记载。不过存在着一个共识，那就是人们每天吃的香肠、法兰克福香肠和热狗都是源于人们保存肉类的愿望。

Ever wonder why sausages are wrapped in some form of casing? The reason is that, before refrigeration, butchers would want to preserve meat during transit². They took the meat, organs, and blood of a slaughtered³ animal, sprinkled it with salt to preserve it, then wrapped the gristly results in the animal's intestine⁴ or stomach to stop it going off before it could be eaten.

想知道香肠为什么要用各种肠衣包裹？原因就是在冷藏之前，屠夫想要在运输途中保存肉类。他们将动物屠杀，在所得的肉、五脏和血上撒盐以便保存，然后将这些柔软的东西包进动物的肠或胃里，防止吃之前腐坏。

This is why some sausages contain a large amount of blood in their recipes; the origin of this practice was to help use up any blood that was left over after slaughtering⁵ an animal.

这就是为什么有些香肠的制作食谱中包含有大量的血，这种做法是为了用尽屠杀动物后所留下的所有血。

We have no real use for salting today, given how good fridges can be with preserving meat. The tradition of meat in casing, however, still goes strong to this day.

在今天，我们已经无需再盐腌肉类，因为有冰箱可以保存肉类。但是，将肉灌进肠衣的传统至今仍然盛行。