Salt: A World History

by Mark Kurlansky

Salt is a chemical term for a substance produced by the reaction of an acid with a base. When sodium, an unstable metal that can suddenly burst into flame, reacts with a deadly poisonous gas known as chlorine, it becomes the staple food sodium chloride, NaCl, from the only family of rocks eaten by humans.

On every continent, once human beings began cultivating crops, they began looking for salt to add to their diet.

A country is never as poor as when it seems filled with riches. —Laozi quoted in the Yan tie lun, A Discourse on Salt and Iron, 81 B.C.

The ancient Egyptians may have been the first to cure meat and fish with salt.

Proteins unwind when exposed to heat, and they do the same when exposed to salt. So salting has an effect resembling cooking.

The Roman army required salt for its soldiers and for its horses and livestock. At times soldiers were even paid in salt, which was the origin of the word salary and the expression “worth his salt” or “earning his salt.” In fact, the Latin word sal became the French word solde, meaning pay, which is the origin of the word, soldier.

IN A 1961 speech, Charles de Gaulle, explaining the ungovernable character of the French nation, said, “Nobody can easily bring together a nation that has 265 kinds of cheese.”

Ketchup derives its name from the Indonesian fish and soy sauce kecap ikan.