Salt Sogeum Sel Milh What do you think about when you hear salt? Is it delicious food? Is it a just a normal white crystalline? A small bottle sitting on the shelf? But if we rewind a bit,
or a bit too much in history: the image of salt changes drastically. Let’s go back to the Ancient era where
Salt’s politicality was high since it was related to human being’s survival In the past: during the roman times, Salt
was used as a currency. The words salary and soldier derive from the
latin word of salt, Salarium. In the beginning of the 7th century, Salt
was used as the main trade product, in the trans-saharan trade. It was seen as a symbol
of wealth and power As we move forward to the mid era,
salt becomes highly tied to economy and it raises competition: salt was so important
that nations worked hard to control its supply. Did you know that Salt accounted for nearly
50% of Venetian imports between the 14th and 16th centuries? The salt merchants of Venice managed to maintain a high price for salt by restricting the supply which is what the OPEC is doing today with oil. Salt was as important to the people then as the petroleum is to us now; other restrictions on salt can be highlighted in Switzerland, the Habsburg’s Salt Monopoly, and in the way that the Japanese taxed salt during their Colonization of Korea to extract
from colony. Upon the reinforcement of any salt taxes,
the streets rise and get shaken by the people making salt a symbol of political power in
many countries and continents After the British signed the salt act of 1882, prohibiting Indians from collecting and selling salt, the Indian people led by Gandhi marched
the Salt March as an act of nonviolent civil disobedience. Other protests were witnessed in China up until the modern communist regime, in addition
to France, the Gabelle. Salt represents many values, and characteristics
in literature and other cultural materials. Moreover, superstitions regarding salt are
observed everywhere around the world. For example, salt was a method of avoiding
devil or ghost the custom of throwing salt over the shoulder in western culture. Salt was also used for medical purposes before
the introduction of modern medicine. As opposed to its scarcity, salt was a critical
necessity with the absence of technology for preservation, salt was used as the primary
means of food preservation. The scarcity and the significance
combined together contributed to salt’s high politicality. if we snap out of history and think about
salt again? Technological development eased the production
and distribution, while also making alternative spices available regardless of geographical limitations. Instead, today salt plays a different role
in the industrial sector. The majority of salt is used for industrial purposes, while deicing salt accounts for up to 40% of consumption in some countries. With the now higher awareness on Climate Change and other environmental issues, a fundamental safety of table salt made in salt pond is questioned since microplastics were found
in table salt. It is because there is microplastics merged in seawater, and it is not filtered
during the evaporation process. Moreover, on the health sector, there is still
an ongoing salt war, but it is against salt this time, experts of healthy lifestyles have been promoting
the ban of the use of salt, there are diverse choices of salt-free cosmetics and shampoos, in addition to low Sodium Diet. So
What’s next? Ah SALT, why so controversial? Why a whole lifetime, and of course a whole story!