8 ms·
The Spice of Life
- BadassFractal 9y agoI 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?
- fogzen 9y agoBy not eating meat or dairy and relying on grains and legumes.
- PerfectElement 9y agoForgot nuts, seeds and mushrooms.
- abrowne 9y agoAnd vegetables and fruits I hope?
- ThomPete 9y agoSlow food is about enjoying food which might mean longer preparation but less quantity. So in many ways yes (in some ways no)
- frandroid 9y agoQuality food usually requires less transformation and thus resources. Might require more labour tough...
- ars 9y agoKnowing 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 9y agoDo 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.
- ars 9y agoSo people in Canada should eat only Maple Syrup (and I guess Seals), the Midwest only Corn, and California only Almonds and Veggies? This is completely unrealistic, and unhealthy as well. There are lots of places were food grows OK (and humans lived that way for a long time), but the best is to grow food in the best place for it, not just "OK". You use less fertilizer, and energy that way. The slight added transportation cost doesn't even come close. And in any case, what's the value here? Why do that? What difference does it make where the food grows? I've heard silly things like "less pesticide" - but that makes no sense - what about the people living near that food? If they eat it does it somehow have less pesticide, but people far away get more?
- sirsar 9y agoYes, the most generous interpretation of "eat food that naturally grows in their climate" is definitely "people in Canada should eat only Maple Syrup." Are you willing to have a discussion and apply the Principle of Charity or not? And again, do you have any sources? > The slight added transportation cost doesn't even come close [...] What's the value here? If you preferentially buy food that does not need to be shipped long distances, you can reduce your carbon footprint. > In 2005, the import of fruits, nuts, and vegetables into California by airplane released more than 70,000 tons of CO2, which is equivalent to more than 12,000 cars on the road. [0] https://food-hub.org/files/resources/Food%20Miles.pdf https://food-hub.org/files/resources/Food%20Miles.pdf
- metafrag 9y agoChile was exporting saltpeter to Europe by steamship to fertilize local fields before the Haber process was invented. Nowadays it's a little bit like, "Well, the entire world is connected by kinetic prisms and half the food is almost-literally generated by nuclear fission." If you can figure out the math, you're a better engineer than me. Puts on goggles and aviator's cap to resume tilting at the Organic Lychee windmill
- blt 9y agoFresh 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.
- nemo44x 9y agoOne the reasons “Restaurant Tim Raue” is one of my favorite haute cuisine restaurants in the Western world. His food is electric with well placed spices while using Western ingredients and techniques to create a truely unique and dynamic cuisine. He still let’s the core ingredients shine and doesn’t “over spice” but somehow manages to take you on a road that begins with a fiery amuse bousche and ends the meal with numbing peppercorns sprinkled atop a fragarent orange slice.
- blt 9y agoSounds great, I would love to try it someday!
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- toomanybeersies 9y agoI 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 9y agoWhy gin distillers in particular?
- ucaetano 9y ago"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 9y agoI 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
- AdamN 9y agoSolnitsata doesn't look like it was managed by an empire. Garum was.
- CobrastanJorji 9y agoBut Rome itself was also big into the salt trade. Heck, salt was an important ingredient in garum.
- ucaetano 9y agoSure, which disproves the claim even more.
- CobrastanJorji 9y agoI may be really confused here. How is it that Rome being involved in the salt trade disproves the claim that spices, like salt, were the first foods to be subjected to capitalist and imperialist processes of production and distribution?
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- AdamN 9y ago"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 9y agoThe ability to not only grow but store grain may well have led to small scale civilizations that then grew into large civilizations.
- Lanthis 9y agoIt 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 9y agoAlso 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
- tremendulo 9y agoVariety 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
- boulos 9y agoIt'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.
- kimboleek 9y agoSaffron 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 9y agoDid you establish your company before or after Afghanistan was given "freedom"?
- arstin 9y agoNice 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?