This is a great line: We acknowledge the overlap between culinary and medicinal applications of these plants. The piece talks about spices bring luxury items

This is a great line: We acknowledge the overlap between culinary and medicinal applications of these plants. The piece talks about spices bring luxury items and status symbols, but spices were originally used primarily to help preserve food. As such, most kill microbes to some degree and many are potential antibiotic substitutes, though it's typically controversial to state the obvious on such topics.