Salt: A World History-Salt's Salad Days

By far the best part about this book is the fact that I can enjoy it without having to remember every single detail. For the sake of learning and furthering my knowledge of salt, it's probably in my best interests to pay attention, but it's not required for enjoyable reading. I'm reminded of The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan. It's basically a massive collection of short stories each connected with one another.

NOTE: I'd be underlining my book titles, but then I get some sort of HTML coding...lots of it.

The opening of chapter four is completely disgusting and has very little to do with salt. That's all I'll say about that.

It isn’t unpredictable that salt is an important ingredient in olives. I wonder if they were eaten the same way back then as they are now- soggy and soft. I strongly doubt they were eaten that way back then. I’d probably like them better as they occur naturally. Are black olives just aged green olives? That's pretty interesting; however, I don't think I've ever tasted a green one. Are they much different?

The fact that Roman soldiers were actually paid in salt says a little something about how often they used it. If workers and laborers today were paid in Oreos or some other modern American food, what good would that do? The fact that they worked for and were able to support their families with salt is quite amazing. (I don't think it was actually currency back then...still food?)

Man's desire to survive sure comes into the picture in this chapter. When someone somehow discovered salt's preservation abilities, people all over the world immediately started to spend a great deal of time and effort to implement it into their diets. This same process is happening right now with the energy situation faced by the world. Mankind is working to find the best way to do something, and when we do, you can bet it will go into widespread use as soon as possible.

Two Ports and the Prosciutto in Between

Is it just me, or does anyone else think the illustration of the big wheel used to pump brine looks like a terrible idea? I'm sure it worked fine, or else they wouldn't have chained people to it, but it probably doesn't turn easily.

I have no idea if my sentence structure was grammatically acceptable in that last paragraph.

I hate to see this book leave my locker, as it has provided me with a very interesting view of history, but I guess it has run its course. I don't really know how much longer I would have been able to read about salt, but it was refreshing to have a chapter set in the 'ol A.D.'s for a change.

The valley of Po sounds like a wonderful little region, prosperous, fruitful, and according to the author's description, beautiful. I wouldn't want to live there (being in really nice places makes work and school even more depressing...that's why I like western PA), but I'd love to visit there someday.

Back to number six--it always disgusts me to learn about cheese. I love it dearly, but the way it's produced is absolutely disgusting. "I'm gonna give you a liquid that comes from the mammary gland of a cow, and you're gonna wait 'till it goes bad and becomes a solid. Then, use salt to preserve it"

om nom....

Salting It Away in the Adriatic

This chapter got back into China, but then switched to salt's ties to Venice and the explorations of Marco Polo. In the Marco Polo part, Kurlansky seemed to stray away from salt and talk about food in general. What little mention of salt there was usually involved its economic benefits

Surely salt doesn't still play such an important role in everything. With advancements in...pretty much everything, I'd doubt salt is still as vital as it was back then. (Obviously, we need it to survive, but I'm talking about the economy!)

Perhaps oil is the next salt? It is the only resource I can think of that is as important as salt was back in it's day. I feel like I'm rambling--pardon my fail.






Pretty sure everyone needs to see this picture once in their life.

Salt: A World History-Saltmen Hard as Codfish

In this chapter, Kurlansky continues to point out the various applications of salt that most people are foreign to; unfortunately the first one is, again, body preservation.

I find it funny that the Celt miners had mustaches for the soul purposes of catching food. What is now an inconvenience was then a useful utility.

The fact that Celts are named by historians for their tendency to run and hide is slightly depressing, but it makes me wonder to what extent they have earned this name. I guess this means they didn't call themselves this when the culture existed.

One amazing thing about salt is its frequency. Kurlansky says:

"Like the ancient Chinese emperors, they [the Celts] based their economy on salt and iron and so needed waterways to transport their heavy goods."

This makes me think about how common salt is. More and more empires, we are learning, relied on salt. This wouldn't have happened if it was scarce. So far in the reading, we have salt in East Asia, North Africa, and Western Europe. I should start a map.

Just as distasteful jokes have a period of time that occurs before they can be told, digging graves must become "not too bad" after a while. How long is this period of time? When does it become "okay" to find dead bodies and continue digging like Ramsauer, who even hires an artist to paint his findings! It's just something I found unusual. It reminds me of people who try to build on Native American burial grounds. When this happens, however, it isn't moral.

Salt: A World History-Fish, Fowl, and Pharaohs

Regrettably, I was in a bit of a trance while I read this chapter, but from what I can tell, it's still about salt. This chapter focused on the way ancient Egyptians used and traded salt. One of their major uses for salt is for preserving food and bodies. Is it just me, or is anyone else getting sickened by the numerous parallels between food preservation and body preservation?

At any rate, Kurlansky has again proved salt's importance in history. Unfortunately, this chapter seemed to focus more on salt, its uses, and the politics involved. Hopefully the next few chapters are more history-related. I can't wait to read about salt's salad days...

Its amazing how he can link one thing to another. I'd hate to argue with him. If he changes the way I look at salt completely, I don't know what I'll do. I...just don't.

CAMELS ARE FROM NORTH AMERICA?! You learn something new every day!

I think I'll put a nifty pictar here...

Salt: A World History-A Mandate of Salt

Salt: A World History, by Mark Kurlansky, shocked me right from the get-go. Unless I am mistaken, on page 18, he implied that Adam, Eve, and Noah are all mythical. I've been raised a Christian all my life, and I don't know if I believe this or not. It makes sense, as I have seen plenty of characters with mythical qualities, but these three do not seem fake at all. I guess everybody can interpret what they learn differently.

As much as I hate their culture, traditions, and little superstitions (special thanks to Pearl S. Buck and Amy Tan) , the Chinese do have many significant inventions under their belt. With as old and populated as the country is, it is fairly expected for them to have innovated different fields in their day.

I feel guilty saying this, but before my formal education of different cultures (particularly the ones studied in Honors World History), I was under the assumption that ancient civilizations like Sumerians, Athenians, Spartans, Romans, etc. were composed of inferior beings. This is most likely because of the primitive technology available to them at times. Reading about things like Chinese techniques for extracting salt helped me debunk this assumption. When you think about it, mankind's discoveries are largely dependent on previous advancements. Something is invented or discovered, then the use of that discovery or invention aids in some other discovery or advancement, and so on. It's a stretch; sometimes its not even applicable, but it's definitely a trend.

Kurlansky is insane! His knowledge of world history blends quite seamlessly with his obsession with salt. I can't quite figure out whether it's pure intelligence or unhealthy obsession. At any rate, the first chapter of this book seems to be strangely interesting. The mere concept of tracking the advancements of salt through human history makes the book hard to close. I think it will get old after a while, but for the first few chapters, I'm hopeful.