Salt: A World History
by Mark Kurlansky
Salt: A World History
by
Mark Kurlansky
published
2007
(first published 2003)
by Penguin Books
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isbn
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Read in May, 2007
Mark Kurlansky is a historical writer who does what one reviewer referred to as the “little-big” style of writing, that is to say, he takes something little and often overlooked and from it he spins out larger truths about society and the world. To say that he does this well would be an understatement.
Salt: A World History, his fascinating history of this overlooked cooking seasoning, makes a couple very good points in its introduction. Because of its current cheapness and easy availabil...more
Mark Kurlansky is a historical writer who does what one reviewer referred to as the “little-big” style of writing, that is to say, he takes something little and often overlooked and from it he spins out larger truths about society and the world. To say that he does this well would be an understatement.
Salt: A World History, his fascinating history of this overlooked cooking seasoning, makes a couple very good points in its introduction. Because of its current cheapness and easy availability, we nowadays tend to forget that wars were fought, empires rose and fell, and fortunes were made and lost all on the basis of salt. Entire buildings have been constructed of salt, methods of transportation have been begun for moving salt, religious rituals around the world make use of salt, and it is the only rock we eat.
Nearly everyone I’ve mentioned the book too gives me the same look. A book about salt? that look says. How could that possibly be interesting?A much drier history could be written that was more cohesive if you wished to focus on one specific element, such as the development of salt procurement technologies, replete with graphs and tables. Instead, Kurlansky has written a lively book that moves about with rapidity and brio, never bogging down in any area.
While at times the author seems to suggest a little too freely that salt was the main ingredient in important historical revolutions (the American, the French, Ghandi’s in India), he does at least add this element so lacking in most other stories. If his partisanship as a salt historian has him shaking his salt cellar a little too aggressively over world events, consider it a corrective. Where he might have spent a little more time near the book’s conclusion is the environmental impacts of road salt and the increasing salinization of fresh water sources from this and due to rising sea water levels.
Most of the ancient practices for salt collection, such as filling a clay jar with brine, then letting the water evaporate out, then refilling with brine until the accumulated salt filled the jar, then smashing the jar open, persisted for thousands of years. The oldest human remnants in North America are such jar shards. On a large scale, this was done with a series of artificial ponds, brine pumped into one, set to evaporate for several months, then that water pumped into another lake to be replaced with fresh brine and so on. There are also, all over the world, brine springs and large pure veins of salt in the earth.
This early form of salt, irregular and large chunky crystals, impurities in the supply leading to discolorations, prone to clumping as well as oozing brine in humidity, was prized nonetheless. It often served as a means of trade and was bartered for other goods.
Near Salzburg (“Salt Town”), a collapse of a mountain in the middle ages uncovered a well preserved salt miner dating back to 400 BC, completely preserved even down to his leather pouch and brightly colored fabrics. Three miners were found in total, these were known to the Romans as Gauls (“Salt people”). These celtic types spread out as far as possible, going as far as being found perfectly preserved in Asian salt mines.
The Roman Empire (after defeating the Gauls and absorbing all their salt technology, their salted meat recipes, among other things) was the first peoples to declare common salt, that is, salt as a right belonging to all citizens. Most Italian cities were founded along nearby salt works. The first great Roman road, the Via Saleria has a name that might give it a clue as to what was behind its construction.
Salt was such an important part of Roman culture that two rather popular words in English still used today date from their original usage. The etymology of the word “salary” comes from the Romans paying their men in salt. To pay the large Roman army on the nearly continual German campaigns, generals would often set up salt evaporation ponds. Roman salt works lasted for centuries, some of them being taken over by the French monarchy and used in the 1300s.
Likewise, the origin of the word “salad” is from the Roman habit of salting their green vegetables to moderate the bitter taste, the word meaning “salted.” That one still buys canned green beans among other vegetables with salt already added is a testament to our tastes having long roots.
Later Venetian city state power was built on salt. Merchants there realized that selling and trading salt was actually more profitable than salt harvesting, and thus outsourced the salt production to Indians and Chinese and others. All imported salt supplied by Venice had to pass through the government for regulation, taxation, etc. As the money came rolling in, the Venetians had to expand their buying and their navy sailed farther and farther afield. The Venetian navy doubled as a military force and would police the Mediterranean, seizing ships and searching them for illegal salt transportation. Perhaps their most famous traveler would be Marco Polo who traveled along the Silk Road and met Kubla Khan.
Fish itself became a Friday food because of the Catholic Church’s expansion of “fast days” on which one was also supposed to abstain from sex. Red meat was seen as a “hot meat” and thus had sexual connotations, while aquatic meat were considered “cool” and thus unlikely to provoke salacious thinking. The legal penalty for eating meat on Friday in England was hanging and this law stood on the books until King Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church.
In the American Revolution, salt would come to play am important role. With the supply of Liverpool salt obviously cut off, the very first patent issued in the United States was for a refinement on salt production. Several battles engaged in by George Washington were to secure and hold the American salt production locales and supplies. Several measures were passed by the Continental Congress advocating salt production in each colony. Pamphlets were published and distributed freely among the colonists for bay salt production. Exemptions were offered to salt works letting their workers out of military service; New Jersey would allow each facility to exempt up to ten men.
This importance extended itself in history through the American Civil War as well. Secession exposed the South’s desperate lack of salt works. The Union blockade from England was designed to prevent the importation of Liverpool salt through the port of New Orleans. An army essentially could not subsist without salted meat which prevented spoilage and allowed for long marches. Wherever they marched, Union armies attacked Confederate salt works and when captured, they destroyed them. When the Confederates captured (or retook) a salt works, they celebrated. This shortage of salt is best demonstrated when Lee surrendered to Grant. As part of terms, he asked the conquering general for food, stating that his soldiers hadn’t eaten in two days.
Prior to the Civil War and just after the American Revolution, the Erie Canal’s backers and the surveyor who pushed the idea, presenting it first to President Thomas Jefferson then later to New York business interests after Jefferson denied them, were salt manufacturers. It was eventually built and one of its main products shipped was salt. The Trans-Ohio Canal from the Ohio River to Cleveland carried nothing but salt.
Nearby a ten-mile stretch of the Kanawha River through what is now West Virginia managed to set up the best salt works in America, giving the earlier established Onedega salt works in New York a run for its money. Cincinnati grew as a city, grew from salt pork due to Ohio grown hogs and Kanawha salt. Eventually, the Kanawha salt makers were crushed by the New York Onedega salt works’ friends in government who passed laws making it harder for the Virginia firm to compete.
Back overseas, The British East India Company’s salt policy, featuring the usual bad elements such as high taxes and a brutal enforcement policy, prohibitions on salt production at one point (when the Indian salt works produces cheaper salt than Liverpool), and a deaf ear to poverty, eventually got noticed by a small fellow named Ghandi. His salt campaign was launched through the India National Congress. He marched to the Indian Ocean with 78 followers (the number rising to thousands) and after a ritual purification, he waded to the shore and scooped up a large crystal of salt, thus breaking the British laws. All over India, people began scooping up salt, making salt, mining salt. In that single moment, that single act, the British lost their colony for all time.
Salt has always been a part of our history. Without it, health suffers; with too much of it health suffers. How much is good for you and how much is bad for you seems very particular based on where you live, your activity level, and your genetics. Kurlansky addresses this in closing, but it’s just circles. The exact formula can probably never be argued with certainty due to any number of factors playing a role, but what is without question is that salt, that simple little rock, so common today as to be given away freely at restaurants, is still important and will always be important.
In the way the world works, circularly, the various colored, irregular salt crystals of the past, which were spurned when whiter, purer salt was regularized and when consistency of shape and size was prized, are now seen as artisanal salts. They have now become the expensive style salt whereas they used to be cheaper salt eaten by the poor. The coloration of the salt is merely an indication of differing kinds of dirt in the product. Pure, regular white salt crystals are now the salt of the poor. What comes around goes around....less
Read in April, 2007
This was the first so-called "commodity history" that I've read, and I'm sorry to say it might have turned me completely off the damn things. I'm not entirely sure why this book is so popular and so widely read, since it strikes me as simply a series of stories by Mark Kurlansky that quickly settle into the same basic mantra, which is: 1) Here is this culture; 2) Like the twenty other cultures I have just introduced to you, sa...more
This was the first so-called "commodity history" that I've read, and I'm sorry to say it might have turned me completely off the damn things. I'm not entirely sure why this book is so popular and so widely read, since it strikes me as simply a series of stories by Mark Kurlansky that quickly settle into the same basic mantra, which is: 1) Here is this culture; 2) Like the twenty other cultures I have just introduced to you, salt was also important to this culture; 3) These are the ways they gathered salt; 4) Here is a random sprinkling of recipes involving salt. Done. Move on to next story.
The different stories are not even interwoven, so that halfway through the book I still didn't really know what Kurlansky's point is, unless to underscore his initial point that all animals need salt to live. But I already knew this before I cracked open the book, and I don't think Kurlansky's additional 450 pages underscoring the subject really added anything useful to my life.
Moreover, how can this guy write one book about how Cod changed the world (aptly titled Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World), and then turn right around and write another about how salt changed the world? One wonders if his gimmick isn't getting a bit old. And in any case, can't you name pretty much anything out there and weave a story about how it "changed" the world? Shoelaces, rubber, pencils, ziplock bags . . .
The one thing about the book that was interesting was how it printed all these old school recipes involving salt, salting and brining. The recipes are incredible because of the sheer amount of labor and preparation that they describe. It's both fascinating and horrifying. No wonder a woman's place used to be in the kitchen, if cooking and eating took so damn long.
Here is one of the simpler recipes, this one for salted cucumbers:
SOLENYE OGURTSY (SALTED CUCUMBER)
Dry out very clean river sand and pass it through a fine sieve. Spread a layer of this sand, the thickness of your palm, on the bottom of a barrel. Add a layer of clean black currant leaves, dill, and horseradish cut into pieces, followed by a layer of cucumbers. Cover the cucumbers with another layer of leaves, dill, and horseradish, topped with a layer of sand. Continue in this manner until the barrel is full. The last layer over the cucumbers must be currant leaves, with sand on the very top. Prepare the brine as follows: For one pail of water, use one and a half pounds of salt. Bring to a boil, cool, and cover the cucumbers completely with the brine. Replenish the brine as it evaporates. Before any kind of salting, cucumbers must be soaked for 12-15 hours in ice water. --Elena Molokhovets, A Gift to Young Housewives
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ADDENDUM I:
Okay, I am about three quarters through the book now (I was probably only about halfway through when I wrote the first portion of this review) and it's getting a lot better. Maybe it was just the very long Part II about salting cadavers and the preservation of fish that got me so down on the book before I'd even finished the damn thing. I was initially tempted to quit and put the book down, but I have done that so rarely with books that I decided to just push on, and thankfully the arc of the story shifted and started getting a lot better.
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ADDENDUM II:
Okay, the book got a lot better towards the end. It's still not a book that I would read again with any relish or recommend to anyone who is not already gung-ho about commodity histories, but I don't feel like I am wasting my eyes and mental energy with it anymore. Two stars!...less
Read in August, 2008
recommends it for:
History Buffs, Food Scientists
Everything you ever wanted to know about salt and much, much more. This book was an interesting and thorough (aside from the "minor" omission of most of Africa) exploration of the history of salt, salt extraction, salt manufacture, salt transportation, salt trade, and salt tax.
At times I felt the author was being a bit hyperbolic in focusing on salt as the single most important commodity ever in the development of world history and I kept thinking that such a book could be writt...more
Everything you ever wanted to know about salt and much, much more. This book was an interesting and thorough (aside from the "minor" omission of most of Africa) exploration of the history of salt, salt extraction, salt manufacture, salt transportation, salt trade, and salt tax.
At times I felt the author was being a bit hyperbolic in focusing on salt as the single most important commodity ever in the development of world history and I kept thinking that such a book could be written about a number of commodities--but I couldn't really come up with anything. Water is certainly more important, but it is not really a transportable commodity. Wine and other fermented beverages, perhaps, but wine is not necessary for life (so they say) and the human body needs salt or it will die, plus wine is as difficult to transport as water. Gold and other precious metals/gems have certainly created fevers, but a little famine is a quick cure for a gold rush, while salt demand remains (relatively) constant. So maybe salt really is the most important commodity in world history. The author certainly makes a case for it.
I had a hard time rating this book. It gets four stars for content and thoroughness, but ultimately only three stars for readability. It took me a good five weeks to make it through its 450 pages. I was trying to figure out why it was not as compelling as, say, Tom Standage or other popular history writers and I determined that it's because it has little emotional content. You don't feel like you're going on a journey, but reading about a journey already completed. Which, duh, it's a history book--but there are gripping, suspenseful ways to write history. The more journalistic, fact-oriented, impassive tone of Salt conveys a lot of information, but doesn't get the reader whipped into a frenzy to find out what happens next.
Criticism aside, it's still thoroughly fascinating and worth the read....less
bookshelves:
currently-reading
I have tried to digest this book called Salt, especially as a food reviewer, and a history buff in training, but I think I will throw it over my left shoulder as I can't get past the taste of the endless first chapter on ancient Asian governments.
The book is pretty well written and full of great pictures and interesting salty tid-bits, but maybe its a bit too ambitious to try to tell the history of the world through a pure salt perspective?!
The value of the mineral, and the elaborate way...more
I have tried to digest this book called Salt, especially as a food reviewer, and a history buff in training, but I think I will throw it over my left shoulder as I can't get past the taste of the endless first chapter on ancient Asian governments.
The book is pretty well written and full of great pictures and interesting salty tid-bits, but maybe its a bit too ambitious to try to tell the history of the world through a pure salt perspective?!
The value of the mineral, and the elaborate way it was mined in ancient times, is truly fascinating, but Kurlansky can go four-plus bland pages of minutia of Asian emperor names, follies, and dates of reign, without even a dash of the word SALT!!!
Some treats for you: Salt is the only rock we eat! Salt is a necessary component to functioning, makes ice cream freeze, removes rust, makes things taste good, seals cracks, removes spots on coals, preserves food, puts out grease fires, treats sore throats, and ear aches. The average adult human being has about three or four salt shaker in her body! My friend Clare actually actually snacks on sea salt because she finds it satisfies her craving without having to eat heavy junk foods. A substance so valuable, salt served as money, influenced trade routes, inspired wars. Without taking away the power of salt, the same could also be said about different foods, including beer, which I actually enjoyed reading the history of. (See my Fermenting Revolution review)
On the other hand, my friend, who can stomach more hardcore history than I, enjoyed me reading to him aloud from Salt. Also, my uncle gives many kudos to the book Cod by the same author--
Someday I may get a craving to explore some of these choice jems of chapters, like maybe Nordic salt dreams (which includes recipes), and American salt wars, but for now I am in search of food writing with better narrative flow--
...less
bookshelves:
foodgloriousfood,
history,
non-fiction,
popular-science
Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
history, engineering, and an ancient cookbook rolled into one
It's true: nearly five hundred pages can be devoted entirely to the historical importance of salt. I won't take my little blue Morton's canister for granted again.
Expansive in its historical scope, this book covers the economic and cultural importance of salt throughout recorded history -- and back even further by extrapolating from archaeological finds on various continents. But for all the sprawling history, the book's focus is more narrow than I expected: it's primarily concerned with the...more
It's true: nearly five hundred pages can be devoted entirely to the historical importance of salt. I won't take my little blue Morton's canister for granted again.
Expansive in its historical scope, this book covers the economic and cultural importance of salt throughout recorded history -- and back even further by extrapolating from archaeological finds on various continents. But for all the sprawling history, the book's focus is more narrow than I expected: it's primarily concerned with the commerce, trade, and engineering behind salt production. Though not what I was expecting when I picked this book up, it was an interesting read, and a look at history from a perspective I'd never considered.
The most entertaining -- and the most humanizing -- aspect of the book were the recipes scattered throughout, selected from Roman cookbooks, advice books for young Renaissance wives, magazines published during the American Civil War: anywhere people have recorded their favorite recipes, which is just about anywhere the written word has flourished. Food is necessary for survival, but cuisine is necessary for culture.
This book could easily have gone from three stars to four, however, had a more discriminating editor combed through and eliminated some of the redundancies and meanderings. Later chapters contained multiple restatements of the book's earlier sections, as if Kurlansky expected the reader to be skimming the book out of order. Periodically, the book also devolves into a recounting of events in chronological order, as if the author were stringing together a series of essays rather than synthesizing a single, thematically-tight book....less
bookshelves:
libraryread
Read in September, 2003
Checked this out from the library on the recommendation of bwanderson.
The title is pretty self-explanatory: the book discusses how salt was accessed, processed, sold and used from ancient times through today. I was pleased to see non-European cultures were included - especially since China and India have had such a rich history entwined with this essential mineral. However, I would have liked to see more info about North & South America and sub-Saharan Africa, and I don't remember anyth...more
Checked this out from the library on the recommendation of bwanderson.
The title is pretty self-explanatory: the book discusses how salt was accessed, processed, sold and used from ancient times through today. I was pleased to see non-European cultures were included - especially since China and India have had such a rich history entwined with this essential mineral. However, I would have liked to see more info about North & South America and sub-Saharan Africa, and I don't remember anything about Australia at all.
The book itself is very readable - covering both some more technical aspects of collecting and refining salt, as well as giving recipes and discussing the economic aspects. While I'm sure most people know that the word "salary" comes from the Latin for salt, I didn't realize that in pre-industrial times, if a nation started buying huge amounts of salt, that was a possible indication that they were going to war, as all the rations for the soldiers would need to be preserved. I learned quite a bit about Italian and Chinese history & culture that I didn't know before - and I never realized that salt was one of the main reasons for India's revolt against England.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in an overview of history (with a twist) and plan to read more books by Mr. Kurlansky. ...less
bookshelves:
audiobook,
biography
Read in February, 2008
This is based upon the audio download from www.Audible.com
Narrated by: Scott Brick
The legendary pipes of Scott Brick did little to enhance this biography of the ubiquity of salt. The book is a curate’s egg—there are dull parts but there are also some very interesting parts. I didn't think it possible to have someone talk about salt for 13 hours and 43 minutes but it was.
The book begins with facts about salt and the sharing o...more
This is based upon the audio download from www.Audible.com
Narrated by: Scott Brick
The legendary pipes of Scott Brick did little to enhance this biography of the ubiquity of salt. The book is a curate’s egg—there are dull parts but there are also some very interesting parts. I didn't think it possible to have someone talk about salt for 13 hours and 43 minutes but it was.
The book begins with facts about salt and the sharing of some of the salt industry’s 14,000 uses for salt. It was interesting to learn that the salt in the human body is equivalent to what would be found in 3 or 4 salt shakers.
The early history of salt was only slightly interesting but as the history moved to Europe, you learn how everyday words had their origin with salt—such as salary and town names in England ending in “wich” have salt-related origins.
The best part of the book for me was the role it played in U.S. history (as that is what I like to read about most). I did not realize the strategic importance of salt, especially during the Civil War. My favorite passage from the book was actually a quote from General William Tecumseh Sherman in August 1862. He stated, “Salt is eminently contraband because of its use in curing meats without which armies cannot be subsisted.” In all my readings of U.S. history and the Civil War, I've never come across a discussion of the importance of salt. This was eye-opening.
It was a slow, dry book but one that definitely imparts knowledge.
...less
bookshelves:
released
Read in July, 2008
I can remember sitting in my car listening to a review of Salt: A World History and an interview with Mark Kurlansky. Four years later I have finally gotten around to reading the book. Perhaps I should have read it sooner because the book didn't live up to expectations. I think part of my disappointment stems from having just enjoyed The Zen of Fish by Trevor Corson.
Salt is broken into three parts: the first covering why we need salt and how that need affected early civilizations; the second...more
I can remember sitting in my car listening to a review of Salt: A World History and an interview with Mark Kurlansky. Four years later I have finally gotten around to reading the book. Perhaps I should have read it sooner because the book didn't live up to expectations. I think part of my disappointment stems from having just enjoyed The Zen of Fish by Trevor Corson.
Salt is broken into three parts: the first covering why we need salt and how that need affected early civilizations; the second part focuses on the fishing industry; and the final part looks at how salt continues to affect society. Kurlansky has also written The Basque History of the World and Cod and he's clearly still interested in both topics. Large portions of Salt focus on both the Basque use of salt and the history of cod and salt. I am not all the interested in Basque history and The Zen of Fish is a more interesting take on the history of fish (and salt).
There are some interesting bits of Salt. I liked best the chapters about Italy that discuss prosciutto and Parmesan. I also liked the discussion of salt in China post revolution and the bit about how sugar is traditionally thought to balance the taste of salt. I had never heard of this old wives tale but it helps to explain why salt is always an ingredient in dessert recipes. ...less
Read in March, 2008
I really enjoyed the previous book I read by Kurlansky - Cod: A Biography. This wasn't quite as good, probably because one of the things I liked most about Cod was that it dealt with a product that I knew little about that really helped shape the world. Salt is obviously a bit more well known.
Additionally, I fel...more
I really enjoyed the previous book I read by Kurlansky - Cod: A Biography. This wasn't quite as good, probably because one of the things I liked most about Cod was that it dealt with a product that I knew little about that really helped shape the world. Salt is obviously a bit more well known.
Additionally, I felt Kurlanksy focused too much on the production side of Salt. There's basically three different ways to get it done: boiling, evaporation, and mining. There were, obviously, small differences from location to location throughout the world, and Kurlansky seems to mention them all.... repeatedly. It's just not necessary. The best parts dealt with Salt as a political and economic tool, from Ancient China, to the American Civil War, to the Indian independence from England. Kurlansky shined in those sections.
He's a talented writer, and I was glad to see he stuck to the familiar format from Cod, inserting humor and recipes where appropriate. I'm not big on salty foods, so I wasn't really tempted to try any of the recipes out, but someone who is really into classic food could really enjoy that particular aspect of the book....less
I was very non-plussed by this book. Kurlansky does not do a very good job of presenting his topic. In my opinion he was just throwing out about any facts he could find about salt. In a way he ties it together. He discusses how ancient Chinese used salt; how northern Europeans used salt; how salt was mined; etc. I got that salt is a major natural resource that is the basis for cuisine and culture throughout the world, but I was still asking myself the question, "And?" Kurlansk...more
I was very non-plussed by this book. Kurlansky does not do a very good job of presenting his topic. In my opinion he was just throwing out about any facts he could find about salt. In a way he ties it together. He discusses how ancient Chinese used salt; how northern Europeans used salt; how salt was mined; etc. I got that salt is a major natural resource that is the basis for cuisine and culture throughout the world, but I was still asking myself the question, "And?" Kurlansky left me wondering more.
The lowest point comes in the last few chapters where he spends a couple paragraphs around the actual effects of salt on health. There's the camp of people who think it's unhealthy and keep it from their diet; then there's the camp who think it's healthy and have no problem with it. I was just getting into this argument, when Kurlansky pretty much says, "Well, there's no answer to this," and ends the subject with that. There was a lot of potential there to touch on something interesting, and he completely bypasses it.
This is still not to say that I don't recommend the book. The subject matter is good, and this would be a good read for anyone who is really interested in cooking and cuisine throughout the ages, but Kurlansky is not a good enough writer to pull it off....less
bookshelves:
food,
history
Read in June, 2008
recommended to Todd by:
Ruth
There are a ton of interesting facts in this book, especially if you are a person interested in history and/or food. But there is very little by way of narrative flow, which makes it hard to "get into" the book, or to sit and read, absorbed for hours at a time. Kurlaksky moves about in time (and, to some extent, place) in unpredictable ways, which can make following the historical thread a bit tricky. Generally, he is more interested in developing paragraph- or page-long vignettes desc...more
There are a ton of interesting facts in this book, especially if you are a person interested in history and/or food. But there is very little by way of narrative flow, which makes it hard to "get into" the book, or to sit and read, absorbed for hours at a time. Kurlaksky moves about in time (and, to some extent, place) in unpredictable ways, which can make following the historical thread a bit tricky. Generally, he is more interested in developing paragraph- or page-long vignettes describing historical tidbits than in a straightforward, long-term history. He does manage to cover several millennia, just not in a conventional manner.
I read a reasonable amount of popular-reader-level history, and this book makes a cool complement to other, more focused histories. Because it touches on so many different things, it provides some context for a number of places and periods in history relative to one-another, specifically from the viewpoint of salt and food.
I also really liked the recipes sprinkled throughout the book. If you've ever wanted to make fish sauce the way the Romans did, this is your chance to find out how.
Recommended if you like random facts, or read a lot of history, or are really into food. But only if you are OK with herky-jerky narrative....less
Read in January, 2003
"Salt," by Mark Kurlansky, is all you could possibly hope to know about "the only rock human's eat." Though well written, interesting, filled with lore, and entertaining, it's really more than I ever wanted to know. Maybe the secret of "Salt," like salt, is small doses. That's not the route I took, though. I figured I'd devour the text like any other book and finish it off in about a week. I almost did, and then something else beckoned (actually, anything could have...more
"Salt," by Mark Kurlansky, is all you could possibly hope to know about "the only rock human's eat." Though well written, interesting, filled with lore, and entertaining, it's really more than I ever wanted to know. Maybe the secret of "Salt," like salt, is small doses. That's not the route I took, though. I figured I'd devour the text like any other book and finish it off in about a week. I almost did, and then something else beckoned (actually, anything could have beckoned and gained my interest after a week of "Salt,") and I put the book aside with about ten or fifteen pages to go. I haven't gone back to it.
One time I baked a whole chicken in a salt crust. It was an experiment and lots of fun. I mixed salt, flour, and water, to form a dough; flavored the chicken under its skin with tarragon, encased the chicken in the dough and baked it at 250 degrees. After about 90 minutes I took it out of the oven, and the crust had become so hard I had to break it with a hammer. The chicken was extremely pale, moist, and tender; but, man, was it salty! With the tarragon, strangely pleasant, but a little went a long, long way, and I've never gone back to that, either....less
Read in December, 2007
This book was completely fascinating! Sure, human population didn't really take off until we started staying put in one place and domesticating animals and crops, but what do you think preserved those food staples? Salt! Salt didn't just play a role with how we preserve food, but entire wars and civilizations rose and fell due (in part) to their hold on salt. Seriously! Venice became a huge European powerhouse in the middle ages because of their saltworks, and I learned that salt even pla...more
This book was completely fascinating! Sure, human population didn't really take off until we started staying put in one place and domesticating animals and crops, but what do you think preserved those food staples? Salt! Salt didn't just play a role with how we preserve food, but entire wars and civilizations rose and fell due (in part) to their hold on salt. Seriously! Venice became a huge European powerhouse in the middle ages because of their saltworks, and I learned that salt even played a part in the American Civil War (all the good salt production was in the north, so the south had to ship it in). Sure, Mr. Kurlansky might have overly emphasized salt's role on occasion, but that didn't detract from the book one iota.
Oh! One more tidbit: Everyone's heard of Ghandi's pacifistic march across India, but did you know Ghandi was marching in protest of severe British salt restrictions? Really! To this day, it's called the "Salt March" (1930)....less
Read in July, 2008
recommends it for:
my boring, self-aggrandizing uncle Ernie, so he can spew NEW factoids at our next family reunion
I listened to this on audio while commuting. I'm sure my review will result in my fall from Kir's graces, but I did not fall in love w/ this one. To be fair, I've read other reviews from folks who did the audio and/or read, and one said reading the book far outshined the audio experience. I literally found the voice of the reader to hypnotize me. I'm actually thinking it was because of his hypnotic powers that I contracted Alien Hand Syndrome. Parts of the book were extremely interesting (Parma?...more
I listened to this on audio while commuting. I'm sure my review will result in my fall from Kir's graces, but I did not fall in love w/ this one. To be fair, I've read other reviews from folks who did the audio and/or read, and one said reading the book far outshined the audio experience. I literally found the voice of the reader to hypnotize me. I'm actually thinking it was because of his hypnotic powers that I contracted Alien Hand Syndrome. Parts of the book were extremely interesting (Parma? Prosciutto? Wow, who knew so much history went into the cheeses and cured hams of Italy.) and others were so snooze-worthy. The entire experience sounded, to me, like someone reading their masters' thesis - - like they were into it but everyone else would just be nodding and humoring the writer. I got enough info about Cod from this book to stay clear of the author's other book "Cod". Whew. ...less
For Kurlansky the history of the world is the history of salt (before that it was salted cod, and before that it was the salted cod fishermen, the Basque).
I've got a soft spot for popularized history that take in the whole sweeping scope of human history (see Jared Diamond), the subject matter and trivia is intriguing (oil mining rigs were invented for mining salt; Imperial England's "War on Drugs" was a war on salt, and Gandhi's great march to the sea was to collect salt in the t...more
For Kurlansky the history of the world is the history of salt (before that it was salted cod, and before that it was the salted cod fishermen, the Basque).
I've got a soft spot for popularized history that take in the whole sweeping scope of human history (see Jared Diamond), the subject matter and trivia is intriguing (oil mining rigs were invented for mining salt; Imperial England's "War on Drugs" was a war on salt, and Gandhi's great march to the sea was to collect salt in the traditional manner; those pink ponds near SFO *are* salt ponds, and consequently are pink for the same reason flamingos are, brine shrimp), and the writing is solid.
However Mark clearly read *a lot* of old cookbooks, and the flow can get bogged down by his need to share this or that Roman culinary tip.
Not to be read while laying on the couch recovering from a bout of stomach flu....less
Read in May, 2008
So i FINALLY finished this one. It took a good hundred pages to get into in, going through China, Rome, Italy, Vikings, et blah blah, kind of boring. Then you get to the British, French, and really interesting parts of history, Cape Cod, New Orleans, the Caribbean (Turks and Caicos) etc. It took off from pgs. 200-458 (la fin).
Lots of quotes and crazy old school recipes that required weird stuff like fried frog stomachs, MSG, or a little boy to jump on a barrel for hours/ days...? ahh what?...more
So i FINALLY finished this one. It took a good hundred pages to get into in, going through China, Rome, Italy, Vikings, et blah blah, kind of boring. Then you get to the British, French, and really interesting parts of history, Cape Cod, New Orleans, the Caribbean (Turks and Caicos) etc. It took off from pgs. 200-458 (la fin).
Lots of quotes and crazy old school recipes that required weird stuff like fried frog stomachs, MSG, or a little boy to jump on a barrel for hours/ days...? ahh what?
Got some good ideas for cooking and finding the best quality salt (obvi la France). As well as places I want to go and see! My favorite quote: "Salt is a small but perfect thing" It really is because the mix of an acid and base and unstable wanting electrons and an overindulged willing to give an electron.
Now do you see why I am so obsessed!?
Salt Lover For LIFE!...less
Read in January, 2003
Officially two stars is supposed to mean "it was okay" and one star is supposed to signify "I didn't like it," but there are many degrees of books I dislike and this one was moderately better than it could have been. The writing is OK, Kurlanky has energy, but he attacked this work of non-fiction with no clear agenda.
If there's a thesis beyond "salt is important," Kurlansky fails to articulate it. If there's a logic to how this book is organized, that's not cle...more
Officially two stars is supposed to mean "it was okay" and one star is supposed to signify "I didn't like it," but there are many degrees of books I dislike and this one was moderately better than it could have been. The writing is OK, Kurlanky has energy, but he attacked this work of non-fiction with no clear agenda.
If there's a thesis beyond "salt is important," Kurlansky fails to articulate it. If there's a logic to how this book is organized, that's not clear either. Chapters don't seem to be chronological or geographical, and they don't build to form a broad picture or gradually make an argument. As I was jolted from one fascinating anecdote to another, I gradually grew angry with "Salt." How can someone with so much writing ability and so much research put it all between two hard covers and not try to make anything big or important out of the whole deal?...less
Read in February, 2008
This book is a tour de force. It just happened to bludgeon me with all that force.
Salt is what makes the world work. This book sets out to make that point, and make it it does. Over. And over. A litany of places, names, times, people, and all of them had the same story - find salt, sell salt, use salt.
Yes, it's amazing the role salt has played in our world. I got that in the first 20 pages. The rest just kept making the same point. I was hoping for some progression, some point,...more
This book is a tour de force. It just happened to bludgeon me with all that force.
Salt is what makes the world work. This book sets out to make that point, and make it it does. Over. And over. A litany of places, names, times, people, and all of them had the same story - find salt, sell salt, use salt.
Yes, it's amazing the role salt has played in our world. I got that in the first 20 pages. The rest just kept making the same point. I was hoping for some progression, some point, some revelation. There isn't one, beyond "Salt is important".
For someone with a deeper understanding of world history, and the patience, this book is truly amazing. It will give you a feel for the drivers of our world in a whole new light, and how often does that happen? For me, I wound up skipping pages and pages at a time, just to see if anything new would pop up....less
bookshelves:
health-nutrition-wellness,
histories-and-herstories
An interesting survey of the geography and politics of salt. A hodgepodge of random information about how a small but essential substance has indelibly impacted from Israeli tourist development on the Dead Sea to elite fascination with touring underground salt mines to variations in Chinese cuisine and health contingent upon salt availability. Salt: A World History is an example of the kind of historiography I truly enjoy. Rather than trying to discuss an entire country, continent or civiliza...more
An interesting survey of the geography and politics of salt. A hodgepodge of random information about how a small but essential substance has indelibly impacted from Israeli tourist development on the Dead Sea to elite fascination with touring underground salt mines to variations in Chinese cuisine and health contingent upon salt availability. Salt: A World History is an example of the kind of historiography I truly enjoy. Rather than trying to discuss an entire country, continent or civilization which often turns out to be a scattered, non-inclusive effort, anchor it on a single artifact or substance. Make it something profane and lackluster like salt and you've got yourself a fine, melodramatic novel in the form of a history book.
...less
bookshelves:
decent-read
Read in May, 2008
Salt: A World History is heavy in hyperbole, but chock full of good facts and talking points for your next dinner party. Kurlansky attributes many of the world's historic moments and eras to the control and distribution of salt. While it no doubt played a key role as a resource that was sought by nations either for internal consumption or as a commodity of colonialism and conquest, it wasn't the only resource countries and their rulers were exploiting.
Salt is an interesting book that sheds ...more
Salt: A World History is heavy in hyperbole, but chock full of good facts and talking points for your next dinner party. Kurlansky attributes many of the world's historic moments and eras to the control and distribution of salt. While it no doubt played a key role as a resource that was sought by nations either for internal consumption or as a commodity of colonialism and conquest, it wasn't the only resource countries and their rulers were exploiting.
Salt is an interesting book that sheds light on some of histories significant events and people, but it's a bit overwrought at times which makes it a little tedious to read. That said, if you want to learn about salt, there's some fascinating material about how it's cultivated, harvested, enhanced, and so on.
Otherwise, meh....less
book data (includes all editions)
avg rating
(all editions):
3.65 (1991 ratings)
avg rating
(this edition): 4.00
(2 ratings)
number of reviews: 437
