Salt Cod Quotes

“Typical of Iberia, both the Basques and the Catalans claim the word comes from their own languages, and the rest of Spain disagrees. Catalans have a myth that cod was the proud king of fish and was always speaking boastfully, which was an offence to God. "Va callar!" (Will you be quiet!), God told the cod in Catalan. Whatever the word's origin, in Spain lo que corta el bacalao, the person who cuts the salt cod, is a colloquialism for the person in charge.”
― Mark Kurlansky, Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World

“Massachusetts had elevated cod from commodity to fetish.”
― Mark Kurlansky, Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World

“Salt cod, morue, had slowly made its way up from peasant food in the south to become an honored French tradition. But not fresh cod.”
― Mark Kurlansky, Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World

“The most highly developed salt cod cuisine in the world is that of the Spanish Basque provinces. Until the nineteenth century, salt cod was exclusively food for the poor, usually broken up in stews.”
― Mark Kurlansky, Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World