The myth is about the reason for the popularity of spices in midieval Europe.

And yes it's busted, because spices were very expensive -- they were luxury. The people who could afford spices were not people who ever found themselves needing to eat rotten meat. And mixing with rotten meat was the last thing you'd do with something as expensive as a spice.

Would it suprise you to learn that people used to gather their own spices? Not everything was imported. Not busted it the slightest.

not disputing, but in ye olde times people had a taste for a lot more rotten things, like garum and various fermented meat and fish products.

Additionally, the spices on fresh meat helped preserve the meat for an additional hour or two.