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Article on Indian food before modern European contact: https://contingentmagazine.org/2020/06/25/curry-before-columbus/ https://contingentmagazine.org/2020/06/

• triceratops 2y ago
  The article focuses quite a bit on asfoetida, but makes no mention of peppercorns which are native to India. When Europeans sailed to India for spices, they weren't going an asfoetida or turmeric run. It was pepper they sought (and I guess cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves too - though some of those might be from Indonesia idk). I always assumed pre-Columbian Indian food had fieriness and heat from pepper (bite into a whole peppercorn - it's plenty fiery), so there was a pre-existing cultural affinity for that flavor. This to me explained the rapid assimilation of chilli peppers into virtually every regional Indian cuisine.
  • fuzztester 2y ago
    also long pepper, which is supposed to be hotter than pepper. called piper longum. some of the spices you mention were originally from the Malacca area, but were later grown in South India as well.
  • gavindean90 2y ago
    Cinnamon sugar was a bigger deal than anyone gives a credit for now.
  • Affric 2y ago
    Mace and cloves only grew in the southern moluccas and when the Dutch took over from the Portuguese they genocide the local Melanesian population with the help of some peoples of the western islands.