Europe spices - food and history - Essay Example

All this was a way to disguise the often nasty odour and taste of food. Spices refer to the pungent or aromatic fruits, seeds, bark and other vegetable materials used to flavour, preserve or colour food. As a result, spices have often cast an enchantment on individuals’ imaginations. They have for a long period flattered people’s senses. Spices flattered people’s sight with their vivacious colours, smell with alluring fragrances, and taste with different and exceptional flavours. It is because of the search for spices that adventures, such as that of Christopher Columbus, took place.

The search for spices and better ways to obtain them triggered the age of exploration and identification of new regions. The sources of spices were known by the Europeans, but relied on the Arabs in order to access them. The Europeans also wanted a direct route to reach the spices and it is for this reason that early explorers set their trail in search of spices. Early explorers such as Ferdinand Magellan, Bartholomeu Dias and Vasco da Gama were the first European explorers who started their journeys to identify the sources of spices.

They were later joined by Columbus 1492 in search of the source of spices. Da Gama was one of the successful explorers and went back to Europe with cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns, and nutmegs from India and Africa (Keay 2006). Among all the goods that were traded in the ancient times, spices most significantly impacted history since they put Europe on the chase for ultimate foreign conquest, a downfall whose failure and success influence every element of modern world politics (Anderson 2007). The desire for spices inspired the commencement of the European colonial experience, a vigour that reshaped European politics, demography, ecology, economy and culture.

In this regard, this paper will give a chronological account of the history of spices in Europe through the ancient