The Salt Road

13/11/2025

Culture. Fire. Heritage
At our kitchen speaks many languages and that’s exactly how we like it.

For this shoot, we asked every team member to tell us who they are and why they cook, in their own language.
From isiXhosa to Afrikaans, Zulu, Shona, and Setswana, every voice carries a story of where we come from and what we’ve overcome.

South Africa is a tapestry woven from history and hardship, from resilience and rebirth.
And here, around the fire, those threads come together not as titles or backgrounds, but as one team.

Our culture isn’t written on the walls, it’s lived in the hands that salt, sear, and serve every plate.
We’re proud of who we are, proud of where we come from, and proud of what we’re becoming, together.

🔥 Raw. Alive. Honest.

11/11/2025

10/11/2025

Fifteen years strong.
Meet Chef Adrian, the quiet powerhouse behind The Goose Roasters.

From our earliest days firing up open spits in backyards and wedding lawns to catering world-class events, Adrian has been there through it all. His consistency, loyalty, and no-nonsense dedication have shaped the foundation of who we are as a company.

He’s seen the long nights, the early mornings, the chaos and the calm, and he’s still the first to light the fire and the last to leave the site.

Fifteen years isn’t just a milestone, it’s a story of trust, growth, and shared grit.
Here’s to you, Chef.
🔥 Raw. Alive. Honest.

10/11/2025

Fifteen years strong.
Meet Chef Adrian, the quiet powerhouse behind

From our earliest days at Sophia's, to firing up open spits in backyards and wedding lawns to catering world-class events, Adrian has been there through it all. His consistency, loyalty, and no-nonsense dedication have shaped the foundation of who we are as a company.

He’s seen the long nights, the early mornings, the chaos and the calm and he’s still the first to light the fire and the last to leave the site.

Fifteen years isn’t just a milestone, it’s a story of trust, growth, and shared grit.
Here’s to you, Chef.
Raw. Alive. Honest.

07/11/2025

We started this road with nothing more than curiosity, a few good knives, and a shared belief that flavour tells stories.
It wasn’t about trends, or how things looked, it was about what they meant.

Over the years, we’ve burnt, learned, rebuilt, and laughed our way through it all. We’ve cooked on mountaintops, in vineyards, and in kitchens that felt like home before they were even ours.

Through every shift, one thing stayed constant, Salt.
Our third partner.
The silent one that never left the table.

It seasons our food, yes, but it also seasons us.
It reminds us to stay grounded, to preserve what matters, to give back what we take.

This video isn’t a highlight reel.
It’s a look back at what shaped us, the people, the moments, and the salt that held it all together.

We are The Salt Road.
And this, this is our story.

Follow us and come walk it with us.
Raw. Alive. Honest.

05/11/2025

The Himalayan Salt Route
What’s in a Name?
Why “Himalayan”?
The name “Himalaya” comes from Sanskrit: hima meaning snow, and ālaya meaning abode, The abode of snow. The salt, however, is not mined from the snowy peaks, but from the Salt Range in Punjab, Pakistan, about 300 km south of the Himalayan crest. The term “Himalayan salt” is a trade name, a nod to the great mountain system born from the same tectonic forces that uplifted these ancient rocks.
Where it Really Comes From
The vast pink salt deposits sit beneath the Khewra, Warchha, and Kalabagh mines, part of Pakistan’s Salt Range. Khewra, the largest and most famous, is one of the world’s oldest and second-largest active salt mines. Its underground tunnels stretch over 40 km, carved from glittering pink rock salt that has been mined for centuries.
How it Formed
Long before the mountains existed, roughly 600 million years ago, a shallow inland sea covered this region. As that sea slowly evaporated, it left behind immense beds of halite, pure rock salt, mixed with trace minerals like iron oxide, which gives the salt its pink hue.
When the Indian and Eurasian plates collided around 50 million years ago, the land buckled upward, folding and thrusting these ancient seabeds into the foothills we now call the Salt Range, a geological chapter of the Himalayan story.
History of the Mines
Local legend ties the discovery of the Khewra deposit to Alexander the Great’s soldiers around 326 BCE, but structured mining began much later under Mughal and then British engineers in the 19th century. Today, Khewra produces around 400,000 tons of salt annually, supplying nearly all of the world’s so-called “Himalayan pink salt.”
The Misunderstanding
The romance of the name “Himalayan” often leads people to imagine salt hand-collected from icy peaks. In truth, it is rock salt, mined deep underground from ancient seabeds, part of the Himalayan region geologically, but not from the Himalaya mountains themselves.
What makes it special isn’t altitude, but antiquity, a taste born from oceans older than the mountains. Thank you very much .deen for the photos

04/11/2025

Four years on the menu, still our most-requested. Simple, silky, and deeply honest.
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30/10/2025

🇫🇷 La Route du Sel Française.
From the windswept Atlantic marshes to the Mediterranean flats and deep into Bordeaux’s wine country — France’s salt routes tell stories of sea, sun, and soil.

At The Salt Road, these salts form part of our journey through taste and heritage.

🧂 Le Paludier de Guérande – Brittany
Harvested by hand from ancient Atlantic marshes near Guérande, this fleur de sel is soft, mineral, and pure. Its delicate crystals capture the ocean breeze and finish a dish with quiet confidence.

🧂 Le Saunier de Camargue – Aigues-Mortes, Provence
Formed under the southern sun where flamingos wander the salt pans, this fleur de sel carries a bright Mediterranean crispness. A salt of warmth, sunlight, and Provençal air.

🧂 Fleur de Cabernet – Libourne, Bordeaux
Where the vineyard meets the sea — sea salt infused with Bordeaux Cabernet wine. Deep ruby crystals with the aroma of fruit and tannin, created by Sel de Vin from the port of Libourne.

Each tells a story of place.
Each finishes a dish with a different kind of truth — one born of nature, patience, and craft.

Raw. Alive. Honest.

29/10/2025

Patience, smoke, and Oryx Desert Salt. An old method brought back to life.
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25/10/2025

Long before luxury goods and fine wines, salt was the true treasure of France and Italy.

The Route du Sel, or “Salt Road,” wound from the Camargue’s coastal pans at Aigues-Mortes through Lyon and Geneva, linking to the great saltworks of Salins-les-Bains and Arc-et-Senans and beyond, to Venice, where sea salt ruled the Adriatic.

These routes carried not just salt, but stories of merchants, smugglers, and monarchs. In France, salt was so valuable it was taxed under the gabelle, a levy so hated it helped spark the French Revolution.

Fun fact:
The salt pans of Aigues-Mortes still produce salt today, their pink hue comes from tiny algae that thrive in the sun-baked brine, painting the landscape a natural rose.

18/10/2025

Before highways, the Romans built roads that shaped civilization — and one of the first was all about salt.

The Via Salaria, or “Salt Road,” stretched from Rome to the Adriatic Sea, linking coastal salt pans to the heart of the empire. It carried more than salt — it carried wealth, soldiers, and the foundation of trade itself.

Fun fact:
The word “salary” comes from salarium, the allowance Roman soldiers were given to buy salt — proof that, even in ancient times, salt was worth its weight in gold.