Spice

Title: Spice – The History of a Temptation

Author: Jack Turner

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2005 (First published 2004)

ISBN: 9780006551737

Pages: 408

From time immemorial man went in search of taste. Appeal to the palate was his prime motive in scouring the face of the planet and coming up with spices that attribute a strong flavor to food. The origins of spices are shrouded in mystery, but equally amazing is its discovery. Even before navigational aids and maps came along, ancient man found out that pepper grows only on the Malabar Coast of India, cinnamon in Sri Lanka alone and nutmeg on the Tidor and Tarnate islands of the Indonesian archipelago. They collected it from there and sold it in an international market that never seemed satiated. Global trade was an established phenomenon even before national boundaries solidified. Spices were widely used in ancient Egypt and Greece, where they were used for flavouring food even though not possessing any nutritional value, for medicinal purposes, as aphrodisiacs and for flaunting one’s wealth in view of its astronomical prices. Spices were sold for the end user at a multiple of nearly ten times what it was worth in its original home. The huge profit earned by the middlemen was the real reason for the spirit of exploration that gripped Europe at the end of the Middle-Ages. The voyages of Columbus, Vasco da Gama and Magellan changed the course of modern history. Jack Turner, who is an Australian author and a television documentary host, narrates the tale of what spices are, how they came to the prominent position which they occupied till the early modern period and finally, how they lost their relevance in a world increasingly in possession of other exotic varieties of foods that flowed from the New World.

Spices seeded the growth of modernity. Europe’s departure from the Middle-Ages to Renaissance is marked by Columbus’ travels in search of a new route to the Spice Islands by going west, as the eastern land route was controlled by hostile Arabs. He discovered America, but mistook it for Asia. A lot of spices, some even resembling the more familiar ones, were found in the new islands, but failure to keep his word on delivering it to the Spanish court eroded his credibility. He was restrained during one of his journeys and returned as a prisoner. King Manuel of Portugal, who was the son-in-law of King Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, had other ideas of reaching India. Vasco da Gama attempted and succeeded in rounding the Cape of Good Hope and reached India. Within a brief time, he transferred the bitter enmity that existed between the Portuguese and Arabs to the Indian coast as well. With the help of superior naval firepower, the Portuguese became the masters of the Arabian Sea. All traders needed to obtain a passport from them to ply their vessels. The foundations of colonialism that was to transform the world in the next four centuries were being laid. The Dutch and the English followed suit and successfully dislodged the Iberians. They established their trading colonies all along the mysterious archipelago of present day Indonesia, including Tarnate and Tidore islands of the Moluccas, which was the original home of nutmeg and in Bandas where clove originally grew.

We usually associate global trading to a modern phenomenon. Readers will be pleasantly surprised to learn that various parts of the globe were in continuous touch since a very early period. Spices from Asia were found in Babylonian and Egyptian remains from the early first millennium BCE. Hippalus found the monsoon winds ideal for navigation, for crossing the sea from Arabia. The spices followed two routes upon reaching the coasts of the Red Sea. One part went downstream through the Nile, reaching Alexandria and from there to Europe. The other part followed caravan routes along the Arabian Desert to reach Constantinople and other Black Sea ports. The trade suffered in the third century CE following the emaciation of the Roman Empire, which was the biggest customer of the spice trade. We read of Pliny’s complaint about the outflow of gold from the empire for a craze which he believed to be superficial. The Arabs stepped into the shoes of the traders once Rome was extinguished. As supply dwindled, spices acquired mysterious overtures and fantastic tales were spun to explain their powers and appeal. By the early second millennium, spice trade picked up again through Arab middlemen.

Turner puts in an impressive array of uses for which spices were utilized. Due to its prohibitive cost, poor people couldn’t afford it in their diet. The author’s research into medieval literature and cook books to unearth the varied applications of spices in the culinary pattern of Europe is quite impressive. The book disagrees with the common notion that spices were used to mask the foul taste of slowly decomposing medieval meat which had not seen a refrigerator yet. Meat was a delicacy only the rich could afford and they were not sensitive to the cost. Spices were also used as aphrodisiacs widely. Pre-Christian religions of the West extensively employed it for smoking as incense to fill the divine chamber with fragrance. Christianity at first denounced its use, surmising that it would evoke memories of a non-Christian past in its fresh converts. Later, when Paganism was completely rooted out, the Church didn’t hesitate to readopt them to fulfill those same roles which they had performed for the heathen.

Spices’ fall from grace was rather swift, which Turner explains in the epilogue. Many factors contributed to the decline, the most weighty being its loss of prestige and mystery owing to the extension of its cultivation to other tropical colonies of the western powers. Seedlings were smuggled out of the Spice Islands and successfully planted elsewhere. As the supply soared, prices fell and they became commonplace. With the appearance of edible crops from the Americas, the culinary variety of Europe widened and underwent a profound change. American chilli which grew vigorously in Europe as well, served as a replacement of pepper. Other vegetables like potato and tomato conquered fields further ashore. Tobacco and sugar provided other avenues of indulgence. On the medicinal front, invention of scientific procedures and new drugs proved the futility of spices. With the emergence of the nation state, the concept of national cuisine employing material available in the country became predominant. The diet of the aristocracy and the common man merged as ideas about man’s fraternity gained ground. With the advent of the modern era, farming preferences also changed. Modern Indonesia, in which the sole island that harboured cloves till the medieval period, now imports cloves!

The book is a delight to read, with witty remarks abounding throughout the text. A good set of photographic plates give a visual feel to the ideas expressed in the book. Caricatures of spice plants drawn by 16^th century artists add further depth to Europe’s affinity to spices. Turner has included an extensive list of sources and bibliography for interested readers to undertake further research. A comprehensive index adds to the book’s utility.

The book’s diction is superlative, in fact a little too good for some readers who might find it difficult to follow the argument. The author refutes the much widely known fact that spices were widely used in Europe to preserve meat during the long winter months, but don’t offer anything in place of it. Spices’ exotic appeal was the only thing that is being suggested for its extensive usage. A brief mention of the highly volatile chemicals which accords spices its distinct flavor would have added interest to the text besides giving it a solid anchor on science.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 4 Star