Spice: The History of a Temptation
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.20 (561 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0375707050 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 384 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2016-03-28 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
He ably demonstrates the constant underlying tension surrounding spice--that it was both attractive and repellent, that it represented fabulous wealth and power for some and, for others, an abhorrence of the exotic East that exists to this day. This is not an easy story to tell. He winds his narrative through the way spice was used in the foods of the wealthy (and puts to sleep the nostrum about rotting food), as a medicine, a sex aid, and as an aromatic channel to the gods of the time and place. There was a time, for a handful of peppercorns, you could have someone killed. The Western madness for spice was just about peaking in this time, and spice would all too soon become--gasp--common, much like the afterthought condiment it is for so many today. He starts his narrative with the 16th century quest for spice, then loops back into three mains sections of text: Palate, Body, and Spirit. How to get it. Turner has mined classic and Medieval literature for any an
Indispensible for cooking, medicine, worship, and the arts of love, they were thought to have magical properties and were so valuable that they were often kept under lock and key. In this brilliant, engrossing work, Jack Turner explores an era—from ancient times through the Renaissance—when what we now consider common condiments were valued in gold and blood.Spices made sour medieval wines palatable, camouflaged the smell of corpses, and served as wedding night aphrodisiacs. For some, spices represented Paradise, for others, the road to perdition, but they were potent symbols of wealth and power, and the wish to possess them drove explorers to circumnavigate the globe—and even to savagery.Following spices across continents and through literature and mythology, Spice is a beguiling narrative about the surprisingly vast influence spices have had on human desire.Includes eight pages of color photographs.One of the Best Books of the Year: Discover Magazine, <
If you super love spices go for it, if you want a nice microhistory this isn't it ARG Biggest problem is the organization - I can't say I really understand it, most chapters had some unifying theme like religious use, sexuality, etc, but the way the chapters fit together is very disjointed. There are huge time jumps back and forth across continents. I learned a few interesting tidbits, but I couldn't stay interested. Sometimes it was so dense it seemed that any piece of information acquired was stuffed in no matter how useless it was to the story. If you super love spices go for it, if you want a nice microhistory this isn't it. Doesn't read well.. "Love the book, but keep some glue on hand." according to D. Suiter. I found this book very enjoyable to read, with a wealth of information and a liberal sprinkling of humor. Turner provides insightful information on the historical value of spices and their many applications, dividing his monograph into thematic sections. My only complaint is with the somewhat shoddy physical construction of the bookit split down the middle after one reading and is separating from the spine, and I've noticed that my classmates are having the same issue. This, of course, does not reflect on the content of the book, but it is something I feel buyers should be aware of. I'll edit this later with a photo of . A detailed look at the European fascination with spices This book starts with the exciting stories of Columbus and Vasco da Gama and their far-flung voyages to find the Indies. Of course, now we understand that Columbus gravely underestimated the westerly distance to Asia and instead bumped into the unknown (to Europeans) continent of America. Probably Columbus's main motivation was to discover the source of Eastern spices. Whoever controlled this trade could earn a huge fortune because Europeans paid astronomical values for them. Vast fortunes were to be made by anyone who could cut out the Arabs and Venetians - the classic middle-men of the spice trade to Europe.The book s