Salt has always been more than just a seasoning. Its history is the history of civilization itself. Once used as currency, it was the reason for trade routes and conflicts, the foundation of food preservation, and a symbol of hospitality. In ancient Rome, soldiers received part of their pay in salt – the origin of the word “salary.” In Japan, to this day, salt is sprinkled at the entrance to purify a space. In Bulgarian tradition, bread and salt are offered to guests as a gesture of goodwill and respect.
These small crystals have the power to bring out the best in everything they touch – in food, in nature, in human relationships. Salt is in the air along the seashore, in the red hue that shimmers over the salt pans under Burgas’ scorching sun, in the sweat after hard work, in the tears that follow both laughter and pain.
In English, there’s the expression the salt of the earth. Its roots are biblical – a metaphor for people who embody kindness, honesty, and resilience without seeking glory. They don’t strive to be the center of attention, yet it is precisely their presence that makes the world more meaningful. These people are the “spice” of life, the ones who give it richness and depth.
The phrase has its modern interpretations too – from describing a couple who live simply and truthfully, to acknowledging a friend who is always there when needed. “The salt of the earth” can be the person who brings you hot soup on a cold night or keeps silent when words would be unnecessary. Another interpretation sees them as the most valuable, active, and creative part of society.
This same idea lies at the heart of the documentary masterpiece The Salt of the Earth by Sebastiao Salgado and Wim Wenders – a film like a great handful of salt scattered across human history. It finds meaning in the personal stories of people and places captured in Salgado’s photographs, reminding us of that beauty and pain often exist side by side. He captures moments that would otherwise dissolve in time and gives them permanence. Just as in his photography, our daily lives have their “salty” frames – moments that stay with us: laughter at the table with friends, the first plunge into the sea of the season, or that hug that brings us joy.
Eat.
In the culinary world, salt is like a quiet director. It only needs to be there to enhance flavors, never so much that it overshadows them. The same goes for experiences – small, carefully chosen details turn a moment into a memory. A dish can be routine, or it can become a journey.
Imagine a slow evening where time doesn’t matter. A glass of cold beer, grilled fish, the scent of rosemary and lemon. A voyage through the flavors of the Mediterranean – Italy, Greece, Spain – places where sea salt is at the heart of culinary tradition. This isn’t just dining; it’s a celebration.
Mediterranean Culinary Journey for Two
Location: Meditteraneo Restaurant, Sofia
In the heart of Sofia, inside a charming old house, you’ll slip into a world of candlelight, privacy and warm, home-like comfort. Embark on a flavour journey across the Mediterranean, with every step paired with a carefully selected glass of wine.
Travel.
Salt lives in travel – not only in the seawater but in every endeavor that carries the sensation of freedom. Setting off on the road is about seeking new flavors, new faces, new sunsets.
It can feel like arriving at a harbor in the late afternoon. The air is humid, filled with voices, laughter, the clinking of ropes. Fishermen haul in their catch, boats sway their shadows across the water. At a table at the far end of the pier, under a sun-bleached awning, someone pours a glass of chilled white wine. With every breath, there’s a hint of salt, like a kiss from the sea.
Travel often begins in such moments – not with a map or a plan, but with the certainty that you are exactly where you should be. Wandering narrow streets where whitewashed walls hold onto the coolness, laughter drifting from an open window, laundry swaying like a flag of someone’s private world. The sky’s colors start to melt into one another, and the water reflects every shade.
It’s a kayak trip with a wine tasting in Greece – salt wind, endless blue, and that feeling you’re living a story being written in real time. Another time, it’s just a walk along the shore, when the waves erase your footprints but leave something deeper within you.
The salt of travel is in spontaneity. In deciding to go without a plan, to get lost on purpose in a new city, to stumble upon a tiny seaside village where time has stopped.
Kayak & Wine Tasting for Two in Greece
Duration: 3 часа
Location: Mikro Karydi, Vourvourou, Sithonia, Halkidiki
Gift yourselves a memorable sunset adventure: glide by kayak through Vourvourou’s turquoise coves and around Diaporos Island, then enjoy a curated tasting of excellent local wines. An unconventional, unforgettable way to get to know Greece.
Love.
Love, like salt, amplifies everything it touches. It can be gentle and almost invisible, or so intense it changes the entire flavor of your life. But back to salt… it’s never the main ingredient, yet it’s always what makes the main thing complete.
In life, it’s the moment we remember even when everything else fades away. The detail that turns the ordinary into the unforgettable. The seaside sunset watched in silence with someone dear. The laughter over a plate of pasta in a small restaurant in a foreign city. The sincere word that comes exactly when you need it.
If life is our table, salt is in its center – always within reach, always ready to give flavor to whatever we choose to place on our plate. Let’s never forget to add it – to our food, to our travels, to our love. Because it’s what makes everything more real, richer, more vivid.
To cultivate “salt” in life means to value the details, to seek out and choose experiences that leave a mark. Because in the end, it is these small crystals – the people, the moments, the gestures – that make everything better.