We tend to take for granted this essential ingredient in our daily life. Yet, it has a rich history, as recent as Gandhi’s 1930 Salt March which started the struggle for independence of India. Salt was vital to human migration into the heart of continents, including North America. Its economic importance (it was referred to as “White Gold” at one time) was only matched by its numerous cultural meanings, of which we still have lingering traces in customs, such as the coating of the rim of a Margarita glass, and in many proverbs.
This lively talk, illustrated with pictures, will thus present salt in history and literature, in science and technology, in religion and culture.
Pierre Laszlo has just published Salt. Grain of Life with Columbia University Press.