A tantalizing if short look at the way desire and fascination can shape world-historical events. Everyone knows that Columbus and de Gama were motivated by a search for the source of spices, but no one ever seems to ask why spices were such a big deal, anyways. Freedman makes a compelling case that they were a mix of medicine, status symbol, and genuine delight that had a much more central role in European culture and cuisine than they do today, now that they are no longer scarce or special. It was precisely because they were unusual and exotic that a market existed large enough to bring them into the realm of the familiar, inadvertently dragging the entire world into the European-centered system. Medieval cuisine might not "explain" why colonialism happened, but the fact that arbitrary personal tastes could play a role in shaping the whole course of the future is a powerful idea to consider. ( )

Pros: detailed examination of the subject matter, lots of minor details

Cons: could have used more maps

After the introduction the book has eight chapters and a conclusion. The chapters are:

Spices and Medieval Cuisine

Medicine: Spices as Drugs

The Odors of Paradise

Trade and Prices

Scarcity, Abundance, and Profit

“That Damned Pepper”: Spices and Moral Danger

Searching for the Realms of Spices

Finding the Realms of Spices: Portugal and Spain

The book is fantastic. It examines spices as food enhancements, medicine, trade items from exotic locales, and more. I loved that the author often made asides that filled in information of what was happening in other parts of the world so as to better understand Europe’s place in it.

I especially loved learning about the myths and legends surrounding India and Asia, and the snakes that guard the pepper plants and diamonds.

I find it fascinating the amount of spices used in the middle ages, especially in food, compared to today. Some of the combinations seem so bizarre I want to try them, just to see what they were like. Did they know something we’ve forgotten about spice blends?

The book has a few black and white illustrations and maps, but given the subject matter, more would have been appreciated.

If you’re interested in spices and/or the middle ages, this is a worthwhile read. ( )

A really great book about the spice trade in medieval Europe, and how spices were a major cultural commodity. A bit repetitive, however. Still, not a bad book to have read for school. ( )

Wheeeeee! A fabulous romp through spices and history, with much amusing quotation of primary sources (and the primary sources are of a variety of types, as well, which is always fun, and makes me feel confident that the author has, in fact, done his own research). ( )

Paul Freedman's examination of the role of spices in the medieval world—their social, economic, political and culinary uses—is really wonderful. It's a rare example of the 'crossover book', one which is learned enough to be useful to an academic audience, while also being accessible to an interested lay reader. Freedman uses travellers' account, culinary and health texts, maps, and many other primary sources to examine why spices were so popular in medieval Europe—what they symbolised, why they were used so extensively (medieval European cooking has far more in common with contemporary Middle Eastern food—lots of spice and perfume and rich colour—than it does with modern Western foods), and why they eventually fell out of fashion. Recommended heartily for anyone with an interest in the history of food, or in global history. ( )