Spice: The History of a Temptation
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.32 (911 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0375707050 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 384 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2017-07-09 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
For some, spices represented Paradise, for others, the road to perdition, but they were potent symbols of wealth and power, and the wish to possess them drove explorers to circumnavigate the globe—and even to savagery.Following spices across continents and through literature and mythology, Spice is a beguiling narrative about the surprisingly vast influence spices have had on human desire.Includes eight pages of color photographs.One of the Best Books of the Year: Discover Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, San Francisco Chronicle . Indispensible for cooking, medicine, worship, and the arts of love, they were thought to have magical pro
"If you super love spices go for it, if you want a nice microhistory this isn't it" according to ARG. Biggest problem is the organization - I can't say I really understand it, most chapters had some unifying theme like religious use, sexuality, etc, but the way the chapters fit together is very disjointed. There are huge time jumps back and forth across continents. I learned a few interesting tidbits, but I couldn't stay interested. Sometimes it was so dense it seemed that any piece of information acquired was stuffed in no matter how useless it was to the story. If you super love spices go for it, if you want a nice microhistory this isn't i. Love the book, but keep some glue on hand. D. Suiter I found this book very enjoyable to read, with a wealth of information and a liberal sprinkling of humor. Turner provides insightful information on the historical value of spices and their many applications, dividing his monograph into thematic sections. My only complaint is with the somewhat shoddy physical construction of the bookit split down the middle after one reading and is separating from the spine, and I've noticed that my classmates are having the same issue. This, of course, does not reflect on the content of the book, but it is so. A detailed look at the European fascination with spices This book starts with the exciting stories of Columbus and Vasco da Gama and their far-flung voyages to find the Indies. Of course, now we understand that Columbus gravely underestimated the westerly distance to Asia and instead bumped into the unknown (to Europeans) continent of America. Probably Columbus's main motivation was to discover the source of Eastern spices. Whoever controlled this trade could earn a huge fortune because Europeans paid astronomical values for them. Vast fortunes were to be made by anyone who could cut out the Arabs
Jack Turner is a skilled tour guide and story teller. There was a time when grown men sat around and thought of nothing but black pepper. Throw in a nutmeg or two, you could probably watch. He winds his narrative through the way spice was used in the foods of the wealthy (and puts to sleep the nostrum about rotting food), as a medicine, a sex aid, and as an aromatic channel to the gods of the time and place. How to get more. In Spice: The History of a Temptation, classics scholar Jack Turner opens up the whole story of pepper and its kind like a ripe melon. How to control the entire trade in pepper from point of origin to purchase. He starts his narrative with the 16th century quest for spice, then loops back into three mains sections of text: Palate, Body, and Spirit. Everyone knows a little bi