Salt: A World History

Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky is a lively popular history which every writer of historical fiction should own. It is loaded with eccentric details of everyday life and survival as well as information on past political rivalries, all of which are based upon the use, manufacturing, trade and distribution of salt. No matter what period of history one might be interested in, it finds its way into this book, written in an engaging and humorous style. There are also many authentic old recipes, some of which sound worth trying.

There are many words such as "salacious" and "salubrious" that are connected with salt, as well as many day to day phrases. The saying "to be worth his salt" comes from the days when Roman soldiers were paid with salt. Why was salt so important? It was needed to preserve various foods, particularly meat and fish, and was used in the production of others, such as cheese and sauerkraut. (I can't picture ancient Romans eating sauerkraut but evidently they did.) The countries which had a supply of salt, or easy access to it, were the countries which seemed to have the edge in international power games.

The chapter on France was of particular interest to me, especially the mention of the Cathars. For while the usual chestnuts are bandied about, the point is made that one of the side effects the Albigensian Crusade is that the French crown acquired the Rhône estuary where salt had been made since ancient times. To quote:

 In 1229, Louis IX, the fifteen-year-old king of France concluded a treaty to end the French campaign against the Albigensians, in which the Rhône estuary was ceded to the French crown. This gave France its Mediterranean coast, and in 1246 Louis established the first Mediterranean port, a walled city called Aigues-Mortes, which means "dead waters."...Louis wanted salt revenue to finance his dream of leading a Crusade to the Middle East, which he did two years later." (pp.153-154)

To leap ahead a few centuries to the American Civil War, it was enlightening to discover how much salt played a part in the outcome of the conflict. As Kerlansky writes in the chapter entitled "The War Between the Salts":

In the classic film of the Civil War, Gone With the Wind, Rhett Butler sneered at the southern boasts  of imminent victory, pointing out that not a single cannon was made in the entire South. But the lack of an arms industry was not the only strategic shortcoming of the South. It also did not make enough salt....The Union quickly realized that the salt shortage in the South was an important strategic advantage. General William Tecumseh Sherman, one of the visionaries of modern warfare in which cities are smashed and civilians starved, wanted to deny the South salt. 'Salt is eminently contraband, because of its use in curing meats, without which armies cannot be subsisted' he wrote in August 1862. (pp. 257, 260)

Thus it became Union policy to destroy every salt works that existed in the South.

The book follows the history of salt up to the present time. It is interesting that many people now think that too much salt is unhealthy when it was once considered a necessary part of one's diet.  However, many health experts think that too much sodium is bad only when there is a shortage of potassium in the system to counteract it, according to Kurlansky. (pp.442-443)  The greatest use for salt today is not in food but on highways in the winter. Salt: A World History is permeated with such intriguing tidbits of information right up to the last page.

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