Salt, the seasoning of life

Salt, the seasoning of life

Text and photos by Muhammad Solihin

The roaring sound of machinery from inside a simple wooden house
breaks the silence of Mundu Pesisir fishing village in Cirebon,
West Java.

The hive of activity in the house is in contrast to the rest
of the village, whose men, kept on shore by gusty winds and high
seas, fix spend their free time fixing their boats and nets.

Inside the house, 35-year-old Bahir and 10 other women work
from morning to night under the dim light from a naked bulb. The
small, stuffy room is where they process salt that will
eventually find a place in homes across the country.

With the addition of iodine to the salt, which provides health
benefits, especially for developing children, their product will
fetch a higher price in the market than unprocessed salt.
However, it must also compete with counterfeit iodized salt still
to be found across the country.

Although it's a cottage industry and not the villagers' main
source of income, it provides a valuable source of supplemental
income when the boats must remain at anchor.