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.
1 comment:
I get what you mean. There is no "string" or plot that must be followed here. Mr. K is simply jumping from culture to culture using salt as a way to justify or teach us about how or why each socitey came to depend on salt.
I never read anything by Amy Tan, although in the spring you will have another chance to read about Asia when we study our China unit. I know what you mean about the HTML stuff.
Chapter 4 may disgust you, but if you ever saw what goes into making a hot dog, sausage, pepperoni, and that sort of stuff then I guess you might be equally disgusted.
I am not an olive fan, so I can not answer your questions about such things. I'm told black vs green ones are very different, but I can't say I like them.
Oreos! Ha! That's a good one. Humans are weird creatures and basically value anything and everything under the sun. Look at how much money people pay for things such as coins, comic books, video games, etc. Why do humans value gold? It's a yellow rock? So it kind of fits.
Before the age of the freezer, salt was the only way to make food last over long periods of time. So as you say, it was about survival.
Thanks for fixing and elaborating more on your blog. It added an additional 5 pts onto your score.
Mr. Farrell
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