On Food and Cooking

A   Brief   History of  Spices

The story of spices is a colorful one, and
has been told many times. It turned out that
tropical Asia was especially rich in spice
plants. To the peoples of the Mediterranean
and Europe, who depended on Arab traders
for both the spices and information about
them, this meant that cinnamon and pepper
and ginger were rare treasures from fabled
lands.
The Romans knew a number of Eastern
spices but in cooking used mainly pepper.
A thousand years later, Arab cultural
influence introduced other spices to
wealthy medieval tables throughout
Europe, and demand for them grew with
the middle classes. Medieval sauces often
call for a half-dozen spices, usually
beginning with cinnamon, ginger, and
grains of paradise. The Turkish control of
supply routes and prices impelled Portugal
and Spain to search for a new sea route to