My C entry in the Blogging A to Z 2016 Challenge is “Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World” by Mark Kurlansky. This is not the kind of book I often read, but because I live in Newfoundland, an island settled because of the codfish, it was an appropriate one for me to read and include in this challenge.
This book tells the story of the lowly codfish – how it drove the Basques to cross the Atlantic long before Columbus, though they kept their discovery secret because they wanted the cod for themselves, how it became the basis of national diets, how it fed the Vikings on their voyages of discovery, how economies depended on it.
It tells how the island of Newfoundland was inhabitable because of it and how the people of this island suffered when a cod moratorium was brought into effect in 1992 and the Canadian government closed Newfoundland waters to groundfishing, depriving thousands of a livlihood, centuries old.
It ends with a section on cod recipes and tidbits from around the world. A Newfoundland delicacy is cod tongues!
This book is well written and informative. Kurlansky has also written a book called “Salt: A World History”. I must try to get my hands on this one, too.
wonderfulwordsblog 
Thanks for the book review. I love books about culinary history, so I’ll have to check this one out.
@RhondaGilmour from
Late Blooming Rose
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Many interesting facts, but too thinly spread for me. Great to read in Newfoundland though
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So have you read this book or Salt?
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I have read Cod but not Salt
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Very interesting. I work in a restaurant and we often sell Cod. Good to know a little more about it’s place in history. It’s unfortunate when lives are affected because of laws, supply and demand or the lack of goods.
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We eat almost all of the cod in Newfoundland – tongues, cheeks, roe called cod’s pea, sounds, heads.
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