Salt, The Greatest of All Luxuries
Porters carrying large blocks of salt to market in Timbuktu, Courtesy of The New York Public Library
In precolonial west Africa viewed salt for seasoning their food as “the greatest of all luxuries.” In Meta society in Cameroon the groom’s family sent a gift basket with a large cylindrical block of dried salt to the bride’s mother on the day following the wedding night. If the bride proved to be a virgin, the groom’s family sent an entire block of salt. But if the bride turned out not be a virgin, the groom’s family sent a block of salt with a hole drilled through it.
