system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Does salt actually "bring out flavor" in food or does it just make the food taste salty?
gpt
In small amounts, salt does act as a flavor enhancer.  A small amount of salt (less than would take for something to taste salty) can mask or suppress bitterness and help balance sweet and sour.  There are several possibilities of how this works:

* Salt interacts with food molecules so that their ability to activate taste receptors is altered.

* Salt disrupts food binding, resulting in more aromatics released and more taste through the nose.

* Salt interacts almost exclusively with salt taste receptors but outgoing nerve impulses modify the action of other receptors at the level of the neuron signal (or to rephrase, the firing of a salt neuron interferes or promotes the firing of a non-salt neuron).
 

It is probably some combination of all three.
To demonstrate the flavor altering on your own, try adding a pinch of salt to espresso.  Taste before and after.