3 ms·

Historians (professional or otherwise) help me out: Empires rose and fell based on spice trade, and I cannot bring myself to believe it is just because they t

• ahstilde 6y ago
  When you have salt, you can use less of a spice. Salt used to be rare, so more spices were needed. If your choice was between "rice and egg with pepper" and "rice and egg without pepper", you would choose with pepper if you could afford it. It simply was that huge of a difference.
• DoreenMichele 6y ago
  Why were they so valuable? Most spices have medicinal effects and help kill germs. Even if you don't use that to treat your own health, it de facto acts as a food preservative. Spices, salt and fermenting were a big deal before we had refrigeration, canning, etc. Famine used to be really common and recipe books often had recipes for combining whatever things were likely still in the cellar at the end of winter when everything was running out, like apples with cabbage. These were subsistence cultures. Making food stores spoil slower was literally a matter of life and death. (Edited for clarity.)