Harriette Leidich

That colorless crystalline known to us as salt has become a no-no in my diet and I miss it terribly. I’m having a difficult time enjoying food without it, so I’ve tried some substitutes. But they just don’t work, and I often think I’ll leave food on my plate because it is so tasteless.

Salt has been around for a long time. The Romans used to give their soldiers salt as their salary and archeologists know that by 6,500 BC people living in Europe were actively mining it. What we thought to be the first salt mines were discovered in Austria around the city of Salsburg. (Salsburg means "City of Salt") it was my privilege many years ago to visit the salt mines in Austria and included in the visit was a toboggan ride down into the mines. We were on a 12-man sled and it was one of the most exhilarating and scary rides of my life!

Today we find that too much salt is not good for the body and that we must take measures to curtail its use. That seems to be my problem and I still say food doesn’t taste right without it.

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In my pastime of reading I am aware that some publishers are so eager to get books in print that they don’t really have the best proofreaders on the job. Most books are-error free but once in a while I get the impression that the book is so important that they don’t give it a last minute go-over for typographical errors.

I often find myself making a circle around the error. We did that when we were printing our little chain of newspapers back in the Middlewest.

I know that we shouldn’t deface library books but it is a habit with me that never seems to leave me when I’m reading a library book and one of those mistakes pops up!

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In summer time people carry away soft drinks when they leave a concession and then uncaringly toss the empties along the roadside. It would be great if those uncaring people dumped their empties at home. We don’t like clutter along our beautiful highways in the Green Mountain State.

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The June issue of The Smithsonian magazine carried an article about "How the Chicken Conquered the World." There is information about how an Athenian general on his way to confront the invading Persian army forces stopped to watch two cocks fight. He summoned his troops to stop and watch.

It is a long story and deserves a read if you want to know why the chicken is such an important item in our culinary world. Through the years what has happened to the chicken and how it has become so important in our daily menus and deserves a read.

The Europeans who arrived in North America found turkeys and ducks, but some archeologists believe that chickens were first introduced to the new world by Polynesians who reached the Pacific coast of South America a century or so before Columbus made his voyages.

It was an interesting story about how the chicken has become such an important item in our food chain. I suggest that a trip to a library will give you access to this interesting Smithsonian story about how the chicken has been on menus for many years.

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GLEANINGS: "Clouds bumped one another in the blue sky."

"Mountains stretching up toward the sky were touching the clouds." Harriette Leidich is a regular Banner columnist who lives in North Bennington.