Mark Kurlansky

I read this book many years ago but as I received it as a gift from my younger child, it was time to read it again. Despite the seasoning of decades it holds up as a good book. Salt, which the author notes is "the only rock we eat," plays a vital role in human history and culture. At times this book reads like someone who knows a lot about salt and has decided to tell you all about it in detail, but in the most fascinating way possible. For foodies, Kurlansky also includes recipes using salt from across time and cultures.

There's way too much to summarize here, but my favorite part involves Avery Island in Lousiana. The island is actually a salt dome, and there's a curious connection between salt domes and petroleum. In the case of Avery Island, people have not only exploited it for salt and oil, but Edmund McIlhenny decided it would be a good place to grow peppers for use in his product, Tabasco sauce. The fun stories and historical connections make this book an informative and entertaining read.… (altro)

I definitely have mixed feelings about this one. The author has done an incredible amount of research and without a doubt makes his case for the importance of salt in world history, connecting it to lots of things we may have never thought of, and throwing in lots of interesting historical anecdotes. However, I could have done without the recipes. I did learn a lot however. The audiobook was generally well read except that the narrator doesn't know how to pronounce a lot of Chinese words, which I guess doesn't matter to most listeners who don't know how they are pronounced to begin with.… (altro)

Who’d have thought milk could be such a controversial topic? Breastfeeding,homogenization,pasteurization,hormones,antibiotics,tuberculosis etc.
A history that often highlights class inequities, corporate and government malfeasance and political struggles ( the US embargo of Cuba caused them to make a great cone) but leaves room for discussion of the origins of ice cream sodas,sundaes and much more.
There are recipes throughout, though you may have to rush out and get some yak milk to fully participate.
What’s not to love?… (altro)