“Viking is a term—thought to have its root in the old Norse vika, meaning “to go off”—for Scandinavians who left their native land to seek wealth in commerce.” — Mark Kurlansky Copy Share Image
“A 1670 revision of the criminal code found yet another use for salt in France. To enforce the law against suicide, it was ordered… — Mark Kurlansky Copy Share Image
“The Romans, Jones pointed out, called a man in love salax, in a salted state, which is the origin of the word salacious.” — Mark Kurlansky Copy Share Image
When you're in theater, you inevitably wind up working in restaurants. I made pastry. — Mark Kurlansky Copy Share Image
“For a time, the Hanseatics were well appreciated as honorable merchants who ensured quality and fought against unscrupulous practices. They were known as Easterlings… — Mark Kurlansky Copy Share Image
I blurbed a nice book, not at all like my book 'The Big Oyster,' called 'The Essential Oyster.' I blurbed a pretty good book… — Mark Kurlansky Copy Share Image
The entire trendy foodie world - food writing, food television, celebrated restaurants - is all about food for the rich. But the most important… — Mark Kurlansky Copy Share Image
One of the truly horrible things about the Holocaust is that it doesn't end in 1945. It keeps affecting our lives in the way… — Mark Kurlansky Copy Share Image
It's true that writing and pastry-making are similar, but when you work as a pastry chef, you can get a kind of mania that… — Mark Kurlansky Copy Share Image
Food is interesting to me because it's a way of understanding culture and societies and history. I would never write about food just as… — Mark Kurlansky Copy Share Image
THE ROMANS SALTED their greens, believing this to counteract the natural bitterness, which is the origin of the word salad, salted. — Mark Kurlansky Copy Share Image
Religion is a big problem in Israel and the Arab world, but again, the problem isn't religion but political leaders who want to use… — Mark Kurlansky Copy Share Image
“It is a peculiarity of the English language that while most fish swim in schools, herring swim in shoals, a word of the same… — Mark Kurlansky Copy Share Image
“The painstakingly extracted purple dye was a luxury item of such prestige that the color purple became a way of showing wealth and power.” — Mark Kurlansky Copy Share Image
