
The Spice of Life - Petiver
https://www.slowfood.com/the-spice-of-life/
======
blt
Fresh green peppercorns (พริกไทยสด) in Thai food give an amazingly complex,
aromatic flavor without being overpoweringly spicy. The first time I tasted
them was like a revelation. It seems that cuisines from hot climates are more
aware of the value of fresh herbs and spices. I agree with the thesis of this
article; European-rooted chefs will eventually catch on.

~~~
toomanybeersies
I disagree that chefs from hot climates are more aware of the value of fresh
herbs and spices.

European cooking has a long tradition of using fresh herbs and spices that are
geographically available. Fresh herbs are an essential part of French cooking,
and fresh paprika is essential to Spanish cooking.

It's the spices that don't grow in Europe that get neglected for cooking. I
have a suspicion that gin distillers are a bit more discerning in the
freshness of their spices though.

~~~
jpster
Why gin distillers in particular?

~~~
toomanybeersies
The specific aromas of what you're distilling come through very strongly when
distilling gin, especially any aromas from essential oils.

I used to do home distilling, and I made gin from old juniper once and it was
foul, you really need botanicals that are as fresh as possible.

Also, especially for the bigger distillers, consistency in your product is
important, so they'll likely have quite thorough sourcing for their
botanicals, rather than just buying them from a local wholesaler.

~~~
HeyLaughingBoy
The interesting thing is the difference between aroma and taste.

I had a friend who tried making his own gin a few times. Since I have (far too
many!) juniper bushes/trees on my property, I gave him some fresh juniper
berries to try.

The resulting gin smelled absolutely amazing, but tasted like ass!

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ucaetano
"Spices were the first foods to be subjected to capitalist and imperialist
processes of production and distribution."

No. In the Roman Empire Garum (a fermented fish sauce) was produced in
industrial scale in the Iberian peninsula and exported as a luxury condiment
all across the Empire.

Many other ingredients followed similar production and distribution.

~~~
CobrastanJorji
I don't understand how Garum being an old sauce disproves the point.

A salt-processing town that may be the oldest town in Europe dates to nearly
5000 BC:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solnitsata](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solnitsata)

~~~
ucaetano
Claim: "Spices were the first foods to be subjected to capitalist and
imperialist processes of production and distribution."

Evidence: Garum was subject to capitalist and imperialist processes of
production and distribution before spices.

Claim is therefore incorrect.

That's before we get into the bullshit of "capitalist and imperialist
processes".

~~~
alistoriv
What, do capitalism and imperialism not exist? I think that the issue here is
one of poor wording; spices weren't the first foods to be subjected to the
processes of production and distribution, they were they first to be subjected
to these processes in the context of capitalism and imperialism.

~~~
ucaetano
> they were they first to be subjected to these processes in the context of
> capitalism and imperialism

Garum was processed and distributed from Roman imperial colonies across the
Roman Empire.

And there is no such thing as "capitalist and imperialist processing and
distribution". That's just made-up bullshit.

~~~
alistoriv
I'm not convinced you actually understood my comment. I'm not saying that
processing and distribution in the context of capitalism and imperialism are
qualitatively different from processing and distribution in pre-capitalist
society (although I'd say they are at least quantitatively different, and it
would be an interesting discussion to have); I'm saying that it's possible the
author intended to say that spices were the first to be subjected to these
processes in the context of capitalism and imperialism, rather than the fairly
ridiculous claim that spices were the first foods to be subject to the
processes of production and distribution as implied by the original wording.

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kimboleek
Saffron from Afghanistan: speaking of the Silk Road, saffron was worth its
weight in gold. Alexander the Great would bathe in saffron after battle to
heal his wounds, and Cleopatra bathed also in saffron before her trysts with
Julius Caesar. In the Middle Ages you could be put to death for adulterating
saffron. Anyway, my company is a group of military veterans who source saffron
directly from Afghan farmers and hired almost 2,000 Afghan women this year. We
source our saffron to The French Laundry, Dominique Crenn, Daniel Boulud, Blue
Apron, and once to Mark Cuban on Shark Tank. :) www.rumispice.com

~~~
ASalazarMX
Did you establish your company before or after Afghanistan was given
"freedom"?

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Lanthis
It is highly unlikely that spice production will suddenly join local/slow
trends, due to the climates required for their production, and the amount of
manual labor required to process them.

Also, spices are perfectly suited for commodity production due to their
handling characteristics.

------
indescions_2018
Also scant mention of the role herbs and spices have played in folk medicine
since the dawn of our species. One glance at Rodale's Encyclopedia of Herbs is
enough to see that two or three generations ago, most American households
would have employed some form of home remedy such as crushed barberries to
alleviate the scratchiness of a sore throat ;)

Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs

[https://books.google.com/books?id=htGD3Y7WNxwC](https://books.google.com/books?id=htGD3Y7WNxwC)

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tremendulo
Variety is, famously, the spice of life. But it is also the _spice of spice_.
Exotic spices can often be sprinkled like the more standard condiments such as
salt and pepper. By sprinkling spice on some parts of one's dish and not
others one generates a stronger and more interesting experience overall.
Presumably explained by the principle below:

[http://changingminds.org/principles/contrast.htm](http://changingminds.org/principles/contrast.htm)

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boulos
It's too bad that an article focused on black pepper doesn't mention Cambodia
and Vietnam. Kampot pepper in particular used to be the fancy pepper at good
restaurants in France. If anything, India remaining stable-ish and continuing
to export is what caused pepper to be a race-to-the-bottom commodity. It'll be
great to see a resurgence, but honestly most people will never care.

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AdamN
"Spices were the first foods to be subjected to capitalist and imperialist
processes of production and distribution."

Wheat and other staples have been used for such purposes for thousands of
years. Some researchers think that the power of staples to act as currency for
large scale civilizations is what led to their dominance - since nutritionally
they aren't compelling.

~~~
reubenswartz
The ability to not only grow but store grain may well have led to small scale
civilizations that then grew into large civilizations.

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BadassFractal
I don't know anything about this, but I'm wondering, is the slow and quality
food movement compatible with the need to fill the bellies of soon 10 bil
people? Is this just privilege for the first world? I love a good trip to
Whole Foods or Eataly as much as anybody else, but how do we make that scale?

~~~
ars
Knowing the origin of food will not hurt anything.

Just avoid the terrible "eat local" idea. It's horrible for the environment.

Grow food in the climate/area that suits it best. Not in the area that happens
to be next to the consumer.

Transportation costs are a LOT LOT lower than you think. Eating only local
uses _more_ energy, not less.

~~~
sirsar
Do you have any sources for this? I was under the impression that the goal of
the "eat local" movement is to get consumers to eat food that naturally grows
in their climate, not to start growing bananas under heat lamps in Canada.

~~~
lmm
There are various articles along the lines of
[https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/mar/23/food.eth...](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/mar/23/food.ethicalliving)
(which is a lot more sympathetic to "eat local" than some that I've read, but
has some good examples of the kind of complexity involved in figuring out when
one food is better or worse for the environment than another).

(I'm of the view that carbon dioxide emissions are simply too complex for any
central labelling authority to figure out; the only way that can work is
imposing a cap and trade system on emissions (like we did for sulphur dioxide)
and then letting the market incorporate those costs into food prices)

~~~
sirsar
Thank you, that was a nuanced article that made me aware of some of the
complexity of the issue.

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arstin
Nice article. For anyone wanting to try more pepper, I like going to The
Meadow when in NYC. Sometimes get a random vial of (expensive!) pepper. Plus
you can sample a wall of bitters!

Any one else have a good source?

