Salt: Grain of Life

Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History

by Pierre Laszlo

For the sake of salt, Rome created a system of remuneration (from which we get the word salary ), nomads domesticated the camel, the Low Countries revolted against their Spanish oppressors, and Gandhi marched against the British. Through the ages, salt has conferred status, preserved foods, and mingled in the blood, sweat, and tears of humankind. Today, chefs of haute cuisine covet its most exotic forms -- underground salt deposits, Hawaiian black lava salt, glittery African crystals, and pink Peruvian sea salt carried in bricks on the backs of Ilamas. From proverbs to technical arguments, from anecdotes to tales of folklore, chemist and philosopher Pierre Laszlo takes us through the kingdom of "white gold." With "enthusiasm and freshness" ( Le Monde ), he mixes literary analysis, history, anthropology, biology, physics, economics, art history, political science, chemistry, ethnology, and linguistics to create a full body of knowledge about the everyday substance that rocked the world and still brings zest to the ordinary. Salt is a tour de force about a substance that is one of the very foundations of civilization.

Genres: History, Food, Food History, Science, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Pierre Laszlo (né à Alger le 15 août 1938) est un chimiste français.

Il a enseigné aux États-Unis, en France et en Belgique. Son domaine de recherche est la catalyse de réactions organiques sur des supports inorganiques tels que les argiles. C'est aussi un expert de l'analyse par résonance magnétique nucléaire (du 13C; spectroscopie RMN). Il est l'auteur de nombreux ouvrages destinés à l'enseignement et à la vulgarisation. Il est professeur honoraire à l'université de Liège et à l'École polytechnique.

Reviews

[Petra went to a party uninvited & ate cake]

The review on the front cover reads: "I have been darting, delightedly, from one section to another -from Salting Herring to extreme halophiles, to Spectroscopy. It is a marvellous mosaic leavened with great charm and lightness." (Oliver Sacks).

That is a perfect summing up of a book that doesn't hold your attention for more than a minute, where you have to dart around to see if there is anything your mind can settle on. Too much information is presented as a 'mosaic' of off-topic light humour, speculation and quirky little asides.

The Positive: there is charm in the writing, which is about the nicest thing I can say of this over-blown and often-awkward translation.

The Negative: to give an example of how bad this book is, the second introduction (!) is all about whether the book should be a book, essays or called a treatise. A second introduction indeed!

I gave up after making like a hummingbird and flitting around three chapters-worth of this and that, never finding the sweetness, nor even any tiny grain of the enticingly savoury. Mind, I still have the book. I love the cover.

[Valerio Pastore]

Immaginate di essere uno studente, seduto insieme a tanti altri studenti in un'aula universitaria, in attesa del professore.
Dal corridoio, giunge una voce roca e allegra da osteria, insieme ad una canzonaccia di Toto Cutugno e Luca Carboni. Sei curioso. Pare il professore?
Ed è lui! Entra in aula ridacchiando, barcollando visibilmente. Si lascia dietro un olezzo di shottini, energy drink, e vinaccio in cartone da discount. Ha gli occhi da pazzo. Due studenti sono svenuti per la puzza. Tu vorresti vomitare, ma resisti, incuriosito e anche un po' invidioso di quello spettacolo disumano.
Sempre con la voce allegrotta, il professore comincia a parlare di sale. Delle sue proprietà chimiche, del suo uso a tavola, della sua storia, e poi di proverbi, di riferimenti culturali, di Balzac e di teatro, in uno spaventoso minestrone che bisognerebbe calarsi roba forte per capirci qualcosa.
Ad un certo punto, vinto dal fetore e dal minestrone incasinato, ti addormenti, cadi in coma.
Ecco, COSI'! Arrivato a Balzac ed all'ennesimo catalogo di versi poetici con il sale metaforico infilato nel mezzo, mi sono appisolato e ho capito che non ce la facevo più!
Io ADORO i libri sulla storia del cibo e dei singoli alimenti, ma questo libro è la cosa più sconclusionata e arraffazzonata su cui abbia messo gli occhi. E' tutto mescolato a caso, come se un bambino con l'ADHD stesse disperatamente cercando un rettifilo nel groviglio di argomenti: non fa in tempo a parlare del peso del sale nella storia del commercio nel nord Italia che zac! si passa al Giappone e poi con una scivolata d'ala alla geologia delle miniere di sale e poi alla poesia e poi ai moralismi etici del sale ed ai proverbi e finalmente al mio DNF TOTALE!

[Natali]

This book could have been so much cooler. I think I was hoping it would be more like "The Supper of the Lamb," but it wasn't because the author is not a Christian, for starters. He does have a disclaimer that the book is going to be a bit rambling and "an ignorant treatise," and it was indeed rambling and slow in part. However, it had some really interesting stuff and is good for arguing that "salt is neat!" He shows how integral salt is and has been in politics, culture, language, technology (PVC pipes!), and cooking, of course. I really enjoyed his inclusion of proverbs about salt from many different languages and various etymological nuggets.

[Fernando del Alamo]

Este libro trata de la historia de la sal desde diferentes ámbitos: histórico, cultural, biológico, químico, ético, moral, mitológico, etc. Aunque la idea en sí es buenísima, algunos trozos no han sido del todo de mi agrado. Quizás sea por mí, pero no me ha dejado un buen gusto de boca. Algunos trozos los he encontrado buenos, pero creo que hay que tener unos ocos conocimientos para entender la base científica cuando habla de ello. Sölo recomentado a quien interese el tema.

[Rae]

I wanted to learn about salt and its history but the author's method of using proverbs, folklore, anecdotes and scientific blurbs all mixed together made it difficult to wade through. I didn't really enjoy this one.

[birdmaddgirl]

interesting, but i got the impression that the translation (from french) didn't work out so well.

[Paula]

Dull beyond belief. Have given up.

[Daryl]

It's an unusual person who would salt their lettuce; more unusual would be someone who has then patience to read this book.

[Laura Rose Clawson]

Salt should make you salivate not dehydrate and this is the DRIEST book ever.