A brilliant, original history of the spice trade--and the appetites that fueled it.
It was in search of the fabled Spice Islands and their cloves that Magellan charted the first circumnavigation of the globe. Vasco da Gama sailed the dangerous waters around Africa to India on a quest for Christians--and spices. Columbus sought gold and pepper but found the New World. By the time these fifteenth- and sixteenth-century explorers set sail, the aromas of these savory, seductive seeds and powders had tempted the palates and imaginations of Europe for centuries.
"Spice: The History of a Temptation is a history of the spice trade told not in the conventional narrative of politics and economics, nor of conquest and colonization, but through the intimate human impulses that inspired and drove it. Here is an exploration of the centuries-old desire for spice in food, in medicine, in magic, in religion, and in sex--and of the allure of forbidden fruit lingering in the scents of cinnamon, pepper, ginger, nutmeg, mace, and clove.
We follow spices back through time, through history, myth, archaeology, and literature. We see spices in all their diversity, lauded as love potions and aphrodisiacs, as panaceas and defenses against the plague. We journey from religious rituals in which spices were employed to dispel demons and summon gods to prodigies of gluttony both fantastical and real. We see spices as a luxury for a medieval king's ostentation, as a mummy's deodorant, as the last word in haute cuisine.
Through examining the temptations of spice we follow in the trails of the spice seekers leading from the deserts of ancient Syria to thrill-seekers on the Internet. We discover howspice became one of the first and most enduring links between Asia and Europe. We see in the pepper we use so casually the relic of a tradition linking us to the appetites of Rome, Elizabethan England, and the pharaohs. And we capture the pleasure of spice not only at the table but in every part of life.
"Spice is a delight to be savored.

"From the Hardcover edition.

Reviews

Rhodes Scholar and first-time author Turner (Ph.D., international relations, Oxford) leads readers along the fascinating trail of spice through time, from the pre-Common Era use of various spices as medicine, embalming aids, and food flavor enhancers to current, everyday applications. His interest in spices began in primary school and was further piqued by his mother's regular preparation of spicy kormas, chutneys, and curries. Instead of a chronological approach, Turner presents chapters organized around major themes, including the spice race in the Europeanization of the New World, the longtime use of spices as food enhancers and aromatics, the integration of spices in food preparation in medieval Europe, the use of spice in preserving cadavers in ancient Egypt, and the importance of spices in enhancing sensuality. Readers will be thoroughly entertained by the tasty tidbits that follow the trail of spice in medicine, magic, religion, sex, avarice, fantasy, and gluttony and will likely think again next time they shake pepper on their evening meals. Exhaustively researched and amply footnoted, Turner's title nicely updates J.W. Purseglove's Spices, fleshes out Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz's The Encyclopedia of Herbs, Spices, and Flavorings, and provides more details about the intriguing story of spice than Andrew Dalby's Dangerous Tastes. Highly recommended for all academic and larger public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 4/1/04.]-Dale Farris, Groves, TX Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Spices helped draw Europeans into their age of expansion, but the Western world was far from ignorant of them before that time. Turner's lively and wide-ranging account begins with the voyages of discovery, but demonstrates that, even in ancient times, spices from distant India and Indonesia made their way west and fueled the European imagination. Romans and medieval Europeans alike used Asian pepper, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and mace to liven their palates, treat their maladies, enhance their sex lives and mediate between the human and the divine. While many of these applications were not particularly efficacious, spices retained their allure, with an overlay of exotic associations that remain today. Turner argues that the use of rare and costly spices by medieval and Renaissance elites amounted to conspicuous consumption. He has perhaps a little too much fun listing the ridiculous uses of spices in medieval medicine-since, as he notes in a few sparse asides, some spices do indeed have medicinal effects-and fails to get into the real experience of the people. His account of religious uses, on the other hand, paints a richer picture and gets closer to imagining the mystery that people found in these startlingly intense flavors and fragrances. It is this mystery and the idea that sensations themselves have a history that make the entire book fascinating. Agents, Giles Gordon and Russell Galen. (Aug. 17) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

"Spice""is an erudite and engaging account of how foodstuffs can change the flow of history." - "New York Times Book Review
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"Jack Turner handles his subject with discernment and confidence, his style appropriately brisk and animated. . . . Impressive and reassuring is his combination of sympathetic understanding and tough-minded rationalism. Although he never condescends to the past, neither does he ever blur the line that separates fascinating lore from the objective truths of science." - "Los Angeles Times"

"A nifty grab bag of a book. Entertaining and informative." -"San Jose Mercury News"

"A hugely enjoyable book, written with erudition, style and wit."""-"New Scientist"

"Spice is deliciously rich in odors, savors, and stories. Jack Turner quickens history with almost bardic magic, pouring his personality into his narrative without sacrifice of scholarship." -Felipe Fernandez-Armesto

"Based on research that is broad and deep, T