Salt cod fish

Flavour is the reason why salt cod is preferred than fresh cod.
When white fish is saturated with salt and dried, amino acids and other chemical changes occur in the fish.  This produces a chewier texture and milder, almost sweet, yet still fishy taste than its fresh counterpart.
Salt cod was a innovation centuries ago, a way to eat cod fish year-round.
Its history goes back to the Vikings, but many countries, especially the ones that share a coast with the Atlantic, have some culinary connection with salt cod. In Italy it's called baccalà, bacalao in Spain, morue in France, bacalhau in Portuguese, bakaliaro in Greece, saltfish in the Caribbean, and klippfisk in Scandinavian countries
For centuries, cod was hugely plentiful in the cold northern Atlantic sea. Because there was lots of it, it was cheap, and being cheap, it became a food for the poor. The fish would be salted and put out in the sun to dry, afterwards keeping for months.
Salt cod was also ised with the slave trade as it was a food preserved for the long ship journeys from Africa to the Americas, where it became a food for slaves on southern plantations.