Salt: A World History

Gandhi enters the story as a figure of resistance. He had been preaching the need for Indian independence from the British for some time before he became involved with the salt revolution. Indians were paying thirty times more on salt taxes than British citizens were. It was an issue that Gandhi was able to use to unite Hindus and Muslims. In Salt, his most noteworthy contribution is a march to the sea that spanned over 200 miles. He had announced his plans to reach the sea and scrape salt, which was illegal, since no one could own or produce salt that had not been purchased from the British. When Gandhi arrives at the sea, he takes a handful of salt and puts it in a pocket of his robe. He is quickly imprisoned, but his act of defiance is replicated by others and riots and protests erupt across India while he is imprisoned. Gandhi was astute to recognize that the issue of salt could be used to overcome the religious rifts present among the Indians, and unite them in a common cause. 

Clarence Birdseye founded the frozen-food empire known as General Foods; General Foods would, in turn, do great damage to the salt industry. He began using a fast-drying evaporator to freeze fish. The fast-drying method was superior because the ice crystals that formed were small enough that they did not do any damage to the tissue of the fish, as was the case with larger crystal deposits. In 1928, Birdseye managed to sell over 1 million pounds of fish dried by his method. He was almost singlehandedly responsible for a shift in which salted foods became delicacies, not necessities.