This is a very good book although it become a little pedantic and repetitious at times. Clearly the author enjoys writing about the marriage of food with history and, it's true, many of the anecdotes and facts are interesting. However, the average reader may feel that a little Salt goes a long way. It's like watching your cousin's wedding video...lovely as it may be, you get bored long before the tape finishes.

My advice: read a few chapters, take a few weeks off and pick it up again. It is infinitely more interesting to read the book in this manner and you don't feel like your head will explode if you have to hear the tale of yet another evaporative salt marsh pond.