Perhaps it's ironic that Iberian poet George Santayana brought the world the observation that "those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." The January 27 issue of The New York Times
carries a story by Elaine Sciolino of a group of young Portuguese entrepreneurs who are repeating history, reconstructing a hand-harvested solar saltworks in the Algarve region south of Lisbon.
Despite the global economic gloom, they hope their timing couldn't be better in that the last few years have seen a resurgence in popularity of assorted sea salts commanding premium markeplace prices. Then again, with recession reflected in many households' economic choices, it could be that the story might more likely parallel the 1992 book by Francis Fukuyama,The End of History and the Last Man. Fukuyama was wrong about American global hegemony. Will the history of the Portugese salinas end with a rebirth of artisinal salt or repeat itself in Darwin's natural selection?
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