I read this book after visiting Fort Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island, N.S. and being impressed by stories of oceans of cod ("one could just reach in and pull out codfish"). I'd had no idea how important cod was for the island and for trade in general (I'd never really given it much thought at all). Kurlanksy offers a lively, historical and very entertaining "biography of the fish that changed the world." And with the advent of this book, the publishing industry has churned out schools, nay, oceans of books about single theme histories...[that last part for David-you-know-who-you-are!].

Basically reads like high school summer reading for AP world or something. Not a knock against it, as it is quite interesting

Like Kurlansky's other history on salt, Cod tells the story of the Cod fish and how it has influenced civilization as we know it. This book also has a distinctively environmentalist angle. Whereas salt it an almost inexhaustible mineral, the Cod fish population has been greatly reduced by over-fishing and bad fishing practices such as dragging. Although not as good as Salt this book is still one that shouldn't be missed.

Charmed AND prepared for the upcoming three years delayed espeland/Carruthers family Newfoundland heritage vacation

Looking at the world from the point of view of a species of food fish can lead to fascinating results. For instance, it is quite possible that Basque fishermen discovered the New World decades before Columbus, and that Columbus may have known this. So much of American history (and wealth) is connected with cod fishing that it is quite sobering to see us come to the possible end of a species of whom Alexandre Dumas wrote, "It has been calculated that if no accident prevented the hatching of the eggs and each egg reached maturity, it would take only three years to fill the sea so that you could walk across the Atlantic dryshod on the backs of the cod."

An accident, however, has happened. The cod has fallen prey to the most greedy and insatiable predator ever known: Man. Like the passenger pigeons whose flocks took days to pass a stationery viewer, the cod has fallen victim to man's determined and ingenious predations.

Kurlansky's book is a labor of love interspersed with anecdotes and recipes that make me yearn for some good chowder or dried cod or ... Oh, I do hope the cod can make a comeback. They are so very delicious.

_Cod_ by Mark Kurlansky is an intriguing look at the influence on history of the cod and the history and future of the cod fishery.

The Atlantic cod, _Gadus morhua_, had been fished as far back as the Middle Ages by the Vikings, who were the first to cure cod, preserving them by hanging the fish in the winter air until the fish lost four-fifths of its weight and "became a durable woodlike plank," which could be broken apart and eaten like hardtack (without which the epic Viking voyages to Iceland, Greenland, and the New World would not have been possible). Medieval Basque fishermen had salt (which the Vikings lacked), and were able to salt their cod before drying it, making it last much longer (aided by the fact that cod is close to fat-free) and producing a vital trade good for a truly international market, aided by the Catholic Church, which declared Fridays, the forty days of Lent, and various other religious holidays as "lean days," forbidding worshippers to eat most animal flesh other than fish. Basque fishermen ranged so far and wide in search of cod that they discovered the New World before Columbus and were encountered in large numbers in North American waters by such early explorers as Jacques Cartier.

The cod is "the perfect commercial fish;" it thrives in cold waters, will eat just about anything (including young cod), and is found in huge schools in shallow waters and close to shore. Its flesh, prized for its whiteness, has very high protein content (18%) and when dried becomes even more concentrated (almost 80%).

There is little to waste on a cod. The throat (called a tongue) and small disks of flesh to either side (referred to as cheeks) are very flavorful. The air bladder (commercially called a sound) has been rendered into isinglass, which was used to make some glues and clarifying agents (though in the past was often eaten fried or in chowders). Roe is eaten, as is the female gonads, a two-pronged organ called the britches. Icelanders and Scottish Highlanders made sausage-like concoctions out of cod stomachs. Tripe is eaten in the Mediterranean. The skin is either eaten or cured as leather. The British were "great cod-liver oil enthusiasts," using it as a remedy for many ailments. The remaining organs and bones were used as fertilizer (though until the 20th century Icelanders softened the bones in sour milk and ate them too). By the way a number of historic cod recipes are included.

Codfish include ten families with more than 200 species, nearly all of which live in cold salt water in the Northern Hemisphere, though there is one tropical species (the tiny bregmaceros, of no commercial importance), one South Atlantic species, and one freshwater type, the burbot (enjoyed by lake fishermen). To the commercial fishermen, there are but five kinds of gadiform fish, the Atlantic cod, haddock, pollock, whiting, and hake (and increasingly a sixth form, the Pacific cod). The Atlantic cod is the largest, has the whitest meat, and is generally but not always the most highly prized (Icelanders prefer haddock, as do Nova Scotians and those in northern England and Scotland). Cod though "is the prize," in demand for centuries as a cheap, long-lasting source of nutrition and now as an increasingly expensive delicacy.

The Pilgrims settled was then called North Virgina, hoping to make a profit from the cod fishery. Cod shaped the economies of both Newfoundland and New England, though quite differently. The Newfoundland economy was built around Europeans arriving, catching cod for a few months, and then taking the fish back to Europe, but New England, with its ice-free harbors, longer growing season, and arable land attracted far more settlers. Additionally, cod spawned off the coast of southern New England in the height of winter while in the summer in Newfoundland (which would conflict with any Newfoundland farming season). Cod built Boston, as it was a product Europe and European colonies wanted and something that gave the population money to spend on European goods. Eventually Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, lacking internal markets or population, became fishing outposts serviced by and servicing Boston. Salt cod merchants of New England saw a huge market in the Caribbean for their wares, as food for slaves on sugar plantations, enabling the sugar industry to thrive and further enriching New Englanders. So rich did this trade make the colonies that England worried they would no longer need the mother country and sought to reassert control starting with the Molasses Act in 1733 and eventually the hated Stamp Act, one of several things that lead to the American Revolution. One of the seeds for another war was sown thanks to disagreements among American delegates following the war, as Southerners complained that the interests of nine states were being sacrificed by the demands of fishing rights to British waters by the other four, creating one of the first North-South splits in the U.S.

The cod stood little chance against an ever improving fishing industry. Kurlansky covered the evolution of cod fishing, showing how each new innovation -long lining, gill nets, the otter trawl, the steam engine, innovations in freezing food, the advent of the factory ship - allowed for ever larger catches of cod to be landed and sold but also in the end doomed the fishery. Not only were too many fish caught, some of the new methods were quite destructive, as some of the huge trawl nets devastated the seafloor, leaving behind deserts, bereft of cover or animal life.

Many early attempts at conservation failed. Mesh size was tried, but once a net became filled with enough fish, few fish of any size can escape. Quotas were issued, eventually for individual ships, but that was of no help as fishermen would radio the shore to find what the fish were worth and if the market price was too low, would dump the fish - all already dead - and save their quota for another day.

I got stuck with this book for AP European History book report #2. I got to chose last in the class from the book list, and so... Cod.
I actually kinda liked it at the time. It was short, humorous at times, but went a little above and beyond with the fish so that the world turned and society advanced all thanks to Cod. Kinda made Cod look like God.
I actually suggested this book to the school librarian who was a family friend, for her to read on the way to her vacation. She came back and told me that it was the worst book she has ever read. "It was soooo boring.... ugh... I can't believe them made you read this...."

She retired the next year. probably not because of the cod... or ....?!

blegh?

This was my second reading of Cod - I first read it at the insistence of my husband who read it in an undergrad class. I did not want to read about a fish, but he was right. This past month Cod was my suggestion for book club. Kurlansky takes the history of a fish and makes it an interesting story - about how the fishery influenced politics, nation-building and environmentalism (to a lesser extent). The book will definitely give you an understanding of how long industry (in this case a particular fishery) has been highly connected to and motivating politics. The developments in the book (which was published in the late 1990s) are still relevant today - specifically towards the end of the book when Kurlansky discusses aqualculture.

Cod is an informative book but I do think that at times Kurlansky may be stretching to make his point of the "Fish that changed the world." He places Cod front and center of many major historical events - the Pilgrims, the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, etc. that it seems a bit unbeleiveable that I had never read about this fishery until now (and not just in K-12 history, but as a history major in college). Still, I have no doubt that the fishery has been influential throughout history and this was a highly interesting read.

My friend Michael Strening, Jr, in addition to being an awesome musician, is teaching middle school social studies this year and he told us about a book that his class was reading—Cod by Mark Kurlansky. His description, that the book was an examination of the last thousand years or so of North Atlantic history through the lens of the titular fish, was really intriguing. Especially since I've just finished listening to the BBC's podcast of A History of the World in 100 Objects, which similarly examines history through things and what they can tell us about particular peoples and times.

Cod didn't disappoint—there's the history of cod fishing itself, and then ways that that fishing interacted with other historical movements. For example, the notion that the American Revolution, for all its lofty philosophical ideals, was likely sparked by the financial independence the colonies had already achieved, fueled largely by the cod trade out of Boston. There's quite a bit about the modern state of cod fishing and the decline of cod populations due to overfishing. And sprinkled throughout are recipes for cod that really make me want to try some salt cod.

Picked up this book for a library book club. Main lesson is that there seems to be a hidden history of EVERYTHING. Also, the humblest things can have huge implications. The author is persuasive that European exploration and the institution of European run slavery in the new world would have been difficult, if not impossible without cod. Cod, in turn likely wouldn't have been fished for if the Catholic Church hadn't decreed fish days for about half of the year during the Middle Ages.

The book is pretty informative and somewhat entertaining. For me it dragged in parts and I just couldn't get into the recipes at the end of many chapters. This is likely more a reflection on me than on the recipes. They're products of the various time periods and just not the precise sort of recipes that I enjoy cooking from.

If you're looking for a short summary of a major fishery, how it can get fished to death and enjoy anecdotal history, this book is for you.

Finally, the book has a decent index and a bibliography. I would have preferred footnotes on specific claims, but the bibliography is good for people who want to (can't help myself) take a deep dive into a fishery.

Solid 3.5 stars. Two chapters in the middle were outstanding. About international trade, border skirmishes and the fishing rights of various countries.

Overall. Just above average. Not what I experienced from his book “Salt”. But I’m glad I read it.

Too many recipes. Especially toward the end where the author seems to have filled empty space with recipe after recipe.

The last chapter didn’t even come with a conclusion. Just another recipe.

Contents did not really justify the title.