Spices are the soul of any food either it’s Chinese, Indian, Italian, American, or any other cuisine. Without masale, any special food could be tasteless and the whole aroma and meaning to it would make no sense! But, the fun fact is its own history of cultural significance! Spice were not introduced to the whole world earlier; they were limited to the middle-east and east Asian countries. Then, how does the whole world follow the spice trend in their food staples? How could one not imagine their food without taste? Here, with this post, thefoodhistory will unlock the potentials of spice, their popularity, how they travelled to the world, and more.
Early History Of Spices
Archaeologists stated that before 50,000 BC people used to grow aromatic plants and flavorful ingredients to enrich their taste and make the food smell delicious. Even ancient literature of India, Rigveda, Samveda, Yajurveda, and Atharveda have mentions of expensive spices like Black Pepper and cardamom. The Ramayana also has statements of using many renowned spice to enhance their food taste. Hereby, middle-eastern countries like India and China used to grow different masale for enriching food taste and aroma.
Middle Ages Development Of Spices
During the early days, people used to grow these spices. Later, people started doing trade with them. In European countries, from the 8th to 15th century, The Republic Of Venice had a monopoly on Spice trade which they were doing from plantations in Asia and Africa. Being one of the most expensive businesses, they have started becoming rich among the region. During the renaissance period, people found spice a way of luxury and having delicious food. But, due to the extremely high price, they found it challenging to buy.
The Indian Spice Discovery
Indian Spices have a huge history which is recorded to be before 7000 years. Centuries ago Rome and Greece discovered that sailing ships were carrying expensive Indian Spices, Perfumes, Silk & Textiles to Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Arabia. Then, Greek Merchants threw their money on Indian spice and brought them to trade in their countries. Being implanted, taking care, to make them grow, spice cultivation required a lot of effort and thus, they were too expensive.
Then, multiple historians arrived including Vasco De Gama, Christopher Columbus, and others who travelled to India and observed many things. Indians have deep roots in spice covering from Cardamom to Pepper multiple ayurvedic practitioners were preferring these spice for medicinal usage and enhancing food taste.
India As Spice Bowl Of World
Today, India is exporting more than 60% of spice in the world that makes it Spice Bowl in the world. As of now, Saffron is the most expensive spice in India due to its richness, sensitivity, and amazing flavor.
