Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World [Paperback]

The book paints very vivid pictures of the way in which cod involved as part of trade restrictions help stoke the fire of American independence, played its role in the slave trade, and contributed to numerous stands offs and confrontations between countries. In fact the legendary cod wars of the 1970's between Iceland and the United Kingdom, are only recent additions to the ongoing dispute between nations over fishing grounds. In the 1480's the Hanseatic League, which was formed to stand up for the merchant class in northern German towns prevented Bristol merchants from buying Icelandic cod.

The wealth of some of modern days most powerful and influential nations primarily the United States and Canada, originated from cod resources. In fact cod played such an important part in creating the wealth of many of the first American aristocrats, it was often idealised by those Americans that had become rich on this once abundance resource. Many of the first American coins issued from 1776 to 1778 had codfish on them. When the first American aristocrats built their mansions they decorated them with codfish.

Kulansky also delves into the harsh reality of the dangers and the reality faced by trawler men especially before modern fishing methods were adopted. Many fishermen would lose limbs, due to frostbite, many of the early fishing boats were extremely unstable and a large percentage of men drowned at sea. Even today with the high attention to safety fishing is still one of the most precarious trades, a British survey in 1983 showed the death rate among British fisherman to be twenty times higher than in manufacturing.

Kulansky ends the book with a poignant look at the lost of cod stocks in the sea, focusing on the virtual disappearance of the cod stock around Newfoundland which was once the largest cod fishery in the world. Mans disregard and belief that nature is an unlimited resource over 1000 years has caused devastation and the disappearance of one of mans last wild natural food resource.

This book is extremely interesting read, with many fascinating facts. The book will definitely change peoples perception of Cod, and to my amazement, the cod is a fish that really did change the world.

This book charts the history of cod fishing from the dark ages to the present. The Basques were apparently the first peoples to fish cod commercially and as such they beat even the Vikings to North America by exploiting the rich fishing grounds off the east coast.

There is discussion of the ways that different people in Europe liked their cod. Here in Britain it is eaten almost 100% fresh (or at least fresh frozen), whilst in other countries they would not touch fresh cod, the French wanting only salted fish. Presumably this is historical due to the problems of transporting fresh fish over any great distance.

In North America the Basques got lost in the shuffle because they never bothered to lay territorial claims to the land around their fishing stations, and we get a dispassionate description of the “Cod Wars” between Iceland and the UK, untainted by propaganda.

But the theme that runs through the book is over fishing. From the early days when the fish stocks were believed to be inexhaustible to the present when commercial sized fish are all but extinct in many areas of the North Atlantic. There is the bewilderment and anger of the fishermen, who blame anyone but themselves for the state of their fishing industry and the restrictions that have had to be imposed upon it.

The book is interspersed with cod recipes down the ages. Some are pretty disgusting to me; we don’t eat the intestines in the UK! Others I’m going to try just as soon as I can get my hands on some good fresh fish.

It is the section on the history of the Cod fisheries that I find to be most fascinating. The Cod is shown as the lure which drew the first Europeans to North America. Rapidly becoming a staple in the diets of many, Cod became a pillar of he economies of several regions as well as a major commodity in the fabled Triangle Trade. Access to Cod became a causa bellae, which it remains to our day, and a factor in treaty negotiations.

As the history enters more modern times, the narrative focuses more on the depletion of the Cod stocks. The effects of the failure of the Cod stock on fishing communities in the North Eastern United States and Maritime Canada, as well as on British Cuisine, and on the take of other species, make for interesting reading. Cod is identified as the major natural resource of Iceland. The shifting of national policies along with the extent of offshore fishing rights is closely studied. The book concludes with a collection of regional Cod recipes.

Often we think of human history as an exclusively human story. "Cod" reminds us of the interdependence between man and the sea's creatures.