Who is cod from Salt: A World History and what is their importance?

Even though this history centers on salt, cod plays a central and important role. Cod is a fairly large whitefish that is native to the Atlantic Ocean and surrounding northern seas though there is also a Pacific variety of cod. It has flaky meat that lacks very much fat. This lack of fat is one of the reasons that cod has played such an important role with salt. Fat resists salt and will go rancid if exposed to air for very long. Cod, since it doesn't have very much fat can be immediately salted in the open air. Salted cod will also last for a very long time.