I'm reading that book right now. It's very well written and light considering the many complex subjects that it covers.
Why Salt Was So Important Throughout History
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Re: Why Salt Was So Important Throughout History
#32Wish we had used Kurlansky's book for European history: I now have some understanding of the Hanseatic League's origin! Who could have believed a book titled "Salt" could be so enlightening and fascinating:
Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky https://amzn.to/2L2DO4N
While this this sounds pedantic (who besides me would get excited about a good explanation the origins of "the Hanseatic League"?) but Kurlansky really makes it fascinatingly rich reading.
Re: Why Salt Was So Important Throughout History
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
What would make it worth your time?
Oh, I don't think it's a bad article, I think it's a bad article/audience fit for HN. In my mind, the reader here maintains a pretty high bar for interesting, since I think of it as a curious, exploratory bunch who have already scratched the surface on a wide array of topics.
Ah, got it. I think you're a little ahead of the curve in terms of your knowledge of salt. I agree that we're an exploratory bunch, hence why I posted it here. But I never really stopped to appreciate the importance of salt, and figured that there were others here in the same boat who would appreciate a high-level synthesis of the main historical themes that I grokked from the book.
Re: Why Salt Was So Important Throughout History
#34I'm usually a fan of our "of general intellectual interest" type articles, but this one doesn't quite justify its existence. It's not very satisfying to read a list of the things you'd roughly guess from reading the headline.
The article is just a host for affiliate links.
You read the article. Hopefully you’ll send over a micropayment to support the author. Otherwise, how are content creators supposed to keep creating content? I found the article interesting despite not having an interest in buying a book. It wasn’t trying to “sell” me anything or get me to sign up for anything. It was an unobtrusive experience. Do we criticize news articles because they are tracking our every move or dismiss news articles as just a host for tracking and advertising? That’s what journalism and broadcasting is— the writers and producers trade content in exchange for you seeing an advertisement.
I appreciate the author’s work and, if I were in the market for a book about the history of salt, I would have been glad to click his link. I am sure the more financially blessed among us would love to live in a world that wasn’t so gauche as to require people actually making money from their work, but that isn’t reality. Not everyone has the privilege of just giving away work for free. The funny thing is that if the author had a paywall, people would complain about that. I don’t understand the resistance to people trying to make money with content, especially when done in an unobtrusive way.
Re: Why Salt Was So Important Throughout History
#35Salt does other things to food besides alter taste and preserve. "Salt is special. See, rather than simply flavoring meat by working itself in between muscle fibers, it actually alters the structure of meat, primarily by causing certain parts of the protein myosin to become dissolvable in water. What does this accomplish? Well, by dissolving myosin, muscle structure is greatly loosened, allowing it to retain more moi…
> if you remove the salt from one, it becomes crumbly and dry If you remove the salt it is not a sausage. The word sausage comes from Latin salsus meaning "salted". Salad and sauce also come from this root (more obviously in the Spanish salsa ).
> ... Latin salsus meaning "salted". Salad and sauce also come from this root
... so if you remove the salt, it's not a salad or a sauce? Hmm.
Re: Why Salt Was So Important Throughout History
#36The book 'Cod' by same author is also a really good, if not better book. I'm always impressed when someone can make a good story out of a seemingly boring topic.
Re: Why Salt Was So Important Throughout History
#37Other uses of salt are in coffee, with tequila and salad. Salt reduces any of the bitterness in those things. It's why a salad is called a salad since the Romans salted the bitter greens they ate to reduce the bitterness.
Re: Why Salt Was So Important Throughout History
#38With the advent of refrigeration, we need salt less than ever. The problem is that brands have used it to gain a comercial advantage, to the point where if we eat some processed food and dont add any extra salt, we are already exceeding the daily recommended limit. The link between salt and hypertension is well known by the general public, but less well know is that salt is a major cause of stomach cancer. There is j…
Salt to hypertension thesis has been hit with a number of problems recently. As have many other "known" results in dietary and epidemiological studies.
Current research suggests that while salt is bad for people WITH hypertension the causal link between elevated consumption and hypertension isn't what was earlier believed. One study here https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/317099.php
Re: Why Salt Was So Important Throughout History
#39With the advent of refrigeration, we need salt less than ever. The problem is that brands have used it to gain a comercial advantage, to the point where if we eat some processed food and dont add any extra salt, we are already exceeding the daily recommended limit. The link between salt and hypertension is well known by the general public, but less well know is that salt is a major cause of stomach cancer. There is j…
Salt to hypertension thesis has been hit with a number of problems recently. As have many other "known" results in dietary and epidemiological studies. Current research suggests that while salt is bad for people WITH hypertension the causal link between elevated consumption and hypertension isn't what was earlier believed. One study here https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/317099.php
I reached a point where I don't know what to believe, everything cures and causes cancer at the same time, every week I'll ran into an article about a new study contradicting some random common knowledge.
I guess the key is to live a balanced life, don't consume anything in excess and don't worry too much. "In medium virtus est"
Re: Why Salt Was So Important Throughout History
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
The article is just a host for affiliate links.
You read the article. Hopefully you’ll send over a micropayment to support the author. Otherwise, how are content creators supposed to keep creating content? I found the article interesting despite not having an interest in buying a book. It wasn’t trying to “sell” me anything or get me to sign up for anything. It was an unobtrusive experience. Do we criticize news articles because they are tracking our every move or…
Thanks, this is encouraging to hear. I can also sympathize with GP's skepticism. I get suspicious whenever people try to sell me stuff on the web. I think I'm going to try being very explicit and upfront about the purpose of the site and the role of affiliate marketing within it.