[Sca-cooks] Columbus and salt

[Ana Valdés]

By the way, a charming and wellwritten book about Columbus and the impacts
of his trips in the diet of the whole world.

http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Eat-What-Columbus/dp/0671797913

I am not able to judge the accuracy of his sources but the book is
entertaining.
Ana



On Tue, Oct 12, 2010 at 5:58 AM, Stefan li Rous
<StefanliRous at austin.rr.com>wrote:

> Suey said:
> <<< All reports of Columbus are overshadowed by what the writer wants to
> convey. Kate has brought out that gold and conversion to Christianity
> were the reasons for the voyage in her book, In my book they are salt
> first and spices second.>>>
>
> Why do you specify salt? This is the first I've heard of this possibility.
> I don't think I remember Columbus coming up in the books on the history of
> salt that I've read. Salt was produced in the Mediterranean and while it
> could be fairly expensive, it was no where near as expensive as spices and
> the main reason it was expensive was because of the taxes levied on it.
>
> Unlike spices, salt was not being imported from Asia, so I'm not sure why
> Columbus would set off for Asia hoping to find salt.
>
> I happen to agree with much of the rest of what you and Daniel have to say.
> I doubt that conversions played much of an initial reason for the voyages of
> exploration, except perhaps as a handy excuse, but I think it did play a
> part.
>
> If Columbus hadn't made his voyages, or as was quite likely, he didn't make
> it back, I imagine someone else would have made similar voyages in the next
> hundred years, and it is possible they had already. So, while I'm not sure
> that Columbus should be "lionized", he shouldn't be blamed for the bad
> effects either. If it hadn't already happened, it is quite possible that one
> of those ships plying the route to the Grand Banks would have been blown on
> to the Americas. And that ship and it's crew needn't survive or get back to
> Europe to start the spread of new diseases to the New World.
>
> Stefan
>
> --------
> THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
>   Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas
> StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
> **** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****
>
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