> while servants stream in bearing platters heaped with heavily sauced and delicately spiced foods from all over the world One of my favorite "audiobooks" (in

> while servants stream in bearing platters heaped with heavily sauced and delicately spiced foods from all over the world One of my favorite "audiobooks" (in quotes because it's actually a lecture series) is Food: A cultural culinary history [0]. From what I recall, there was nothing delicate about the spicing of food. The amount of spice that you could put on something signaled your wealth (spices are expensive), so heaping spices on was the thing to do at these banquets. The idea of "delicately spiced" foods came much later from French cuisine. [0] https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/food-a-cultural-culinary-history.html https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/food-a-cultural-culi...