Kurlansky is the Master of social history and odd facts strung together to make perfect sense. I happened on this a few years ago and while I have not particular interest in food, food writing or in fish, I was enthralled. Who knew the world was like this not so very long ago--that cod was a major industry and a major nutritional source in North America and Europe. Now I have found Kurlansky's "Salt" which takes us back a few thousand years and into cultures I have never heard of because they each had a special relationship to salt. The research for these two books must have overlapped because salt was the main preservative for food until the early 20th century. I am constantly amazed at the kind of research needed for these books and Kurlansky's ability to create a compelling narrative on subjects that would be arcane or tedious from any other pen. His fiction "Bunglaoo" is wonderful reading too.