Why do people use salt when cooking pasta?

[Music of the Night]

I never have and I honestly can't think of a single reason why people would.
How is salt meant to make pasta boil quicker?

 

[johnniefreefall]

People normally add salt to bring water to a quicker "rolling" boil, for a faster noodle cooking time.

 

[Amanda☮]

some people think it provents from sticking, but it doesnt.
I dont use it either

 

[The Unknown Chef]

I am a former chef and whether it is or was fresh or dried pasta you need it to flavour the pasta, it is just flour, semolina, water and in fresh pastas some egg content, if you listen to the Food network chef and any good Italian cook the water is to be as salty as seawater, we used to get salt crusts on the pots we cooked ours in, if you do not the pasta is very bland, not sauce can make bad pasta taste good, some people have a thing about salt as one of the other answerer's said, just use your judgement, for me you could float and egg on mine, I have to keep the windows closed or shoo the seagulls away.

 

[Mike]

Old wives tales about making it boil faster

 

[Katie]

It doesn't really make pasta cook much faster. Adding salt to water raises the temperature that it boils at. However, you would need to add a lot of salt to make a measurable difference. The real reason, from what I've heard on cooking shows, is to flavor the pasta a little.

 

[cryptedchaos]

You're probably better off not getting the extra sodium.

But I'm used to salting the water because it adds flavor the pasta, otherwise it's too bland for my taste. There are two ways to add flavor: fat (oil) or salt. Oil isn't as convenient because stuff like sauce will slide off.

Oh, and salt actually makes the water boil less quickly, so it should only be added once the water is boiling.