Please note: In order to keep Hive up to date and provide users with the best features, we are no longer able to fully support Internet Explorer. The site is still available to you, however some sections of the site may appear broken. We would encourage you to move to a more modern browser like Firefox, Edge or Chrome in order to experience the site fully.

Supporting your high street Find out how »
The History and Natural History of Spices : The 5,000-Year Search for Flavour, Hardback Book

The History and Natural History of Spices : The 5,000-Year Search for Flavour Hardback

Hardback

In Stock - usually despatched within 24 hours

Description

‘A tale of kings and conquests and high-sea adventures … A must-read for those interested in the history of spices.’ – Shrabani Basu, author of Victoria and Abdul and Curry: The Biography of the Nation’s Favourite DishHumans have crossed the oceans and traversed the unknown in search of spice and flavour for thousands of years.

Mustard has been found at Neolithic sites in Iran, Germany and Denmark; the Romans’ love affair with black pepper was insatiable; pepper, saffron, cinnamon, ginger, galangal and grains of paradise were ordered in large quantities for Richard III’s coronation feast; and vanilla was credited as helping 342 eighteenth-century men become ‘astonishing lovers’. Although the Romans had imported black pepper, and Eastern spices had trickled through to the West for centuries, it was only after Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape that huge quantities of spices were brought back from India and the Far East, starting vicious trade wars between the Portuguese, Dutch and English as they established their colonial empires.

Spices came from the West too: when Columbus reached the Americas in the fifteenth century, he brought back chilies to Europe, and from there they spread rapidly across the globe. The History and Natural History of Spices looks at spices from both a botanical and historical perspective, from their uses and classification to their influence on trade, war and global events.

Both comprehensive and entertaining, it is the story of how our passion for spices helped to change the world.

Information

Save 24%

£25.00

£18.99

In Stock - usually despatched within 24 hours
Add to Basket
Sign in to add to wishlist
 
Free Home Delivery

on all orders

 
Pick up orders

from local bookshops

Information