The plant that changed the world

[Mr. Harley]

I just couldn't resist the digs with all you Brits out there posting. Actually with immigration British cuisine has improved, from what I understand Tikka Masala if actually a British dish developed by the Indian community there. Thank God for lipitor (let's me occasionaly cheat and eat such dishes).

That's also why I specified the species. The peppercorn comes from a totally different plant, and predate hot peppars in the Old World. It was actually the one spice I thought of that might rival hot peppers in importance to cuisine. I must admit I had not considered hops.

All said and done, I stick to the claim that people will find some form of carbohydrate to grow, and it's things like peppers that really make the significant change. Add a few million people - kismet (though I must admit that if the potato significantly reduced famine in Central Europe due to warfare - now that could be highly significant. Look at how the Lutheran-Catholic Wars accross Germeny retarded population growth by probably close to a century). When it's all said and done, though - add an entirely new taste to most of the cuisine of the world

[Dinner]

Opium changed the world.

[chequita guevara]

Pepper (not chilis) is the single most widely used spice in America.

[Mr. Harley]

OK - plants that changed the world, i.e. there are no substitutes out there.

Candidates - Hot Peppers (chilis), peppercorn, hops (maybe, there was plenty of beer before they were used), opium, coffee/tea (stimulants without addictive properteis - tobacco is nice but without it the world wouldn't be all that different), maybe hemp - I don't know the alernatives for rope and paper, potatoes (a truly different carbohydrate source - also I would suspect plantains/bananas for the same reason, i.e. no substitute except maybe cassava, and that is grown in a different application).

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by shawnmmcc
I just couldn't resist the digs with all you Brits out there posting. Actually with immigration British cuisine has improved, from what I understand Tikka Masala if actually a British dish developed by the Indian community there. Thank God for lipitor (let's me occasionaly cheat and eat such dishes).

That's also why I specified the species. The peppercorn comes from a totally different plant, and predate hot peppars in the Old World. It was actually the one spice I thought of that might rival hot peppers in importance to cuisine.

The reason I mentioned the peppercorn is not because I imagined it to come from the same stock as the chilli- I don't, as I'm too good a cook and too enthusiastic about history to make that error.

It was rather to show that the much derided English cuisine has since the Dark Ages been rather better than its detractors like to make out.

Unlike you, most of the detractors of English cuisines wouldn't be interested in the history of food and trade, so I thought I'd include pepper as it was highly important not only to the Anglo-Saxons but also to the Romans- partly responsible for their 'Drang nach Osten' into Mesopotamia and Parthia proper, and certainly for their traders to have reached as far south as Malindi in Africa, and Calicut (the famous spice clearing house in southern India).

At one time peppercorns reached the equivalent of
£ 50.00 for 12 Roman ounces. Pliny writes of Rome spending as much as £ 10 000 000 in today's terms with the gold and silver bullion going to Asia- and not returning.

As demand for pepper increased and exceeded what home grown stocks could provide, Indian traders and settlers went further afield- to South East Asia and the Indonesian Archipelago.

After the fall of Rome and the rise of Islam, Arab traders also travelled the spice routes- bringing their new faith with them.

In fact I'd say that three plants greatly affected Roman and Byzantine history- wheat and pepper for eating, and the mulberry tree for silk.

Pepper (peppercorns) also played a part in the accumulation of capital by Venice, the East India Company and the Dutch V.O.C. .

And so a spice important to the palate of Western Europeans since Roman times gave an impetus to the birth of modern capitalism.

So I'd say my pepper trumps your pepper.


Silk of course also affected the history of the various Chinese states and empires, the Mongols, and the different empires to have occupied Iran.

Coffee and tea were partly responsible for the worsening diet of the urban dwellers of industrializing Western Europe- where once wine or ale would have been drunk, instead the less calorifically or nutritionally valuable caffeine beverages were drunk.

[Mr. Harley]

I was at a local Indian grocery - we have them all over the US now - and saw this great big two pound! bag of peppercorns. I commented to our little girl's godmother, who was there with us - if I traveled back into the Middle Ages, this is what I would bring with me. I could carry a fortune on my bag.

[Mr. Harley]

I still think Chilis make a bigger difference to world cuisine than peppercorns, though. Many of my dishes would only be slightly different without peppercorns. Without Chilis, a substantial number of dishes from cuisines around the world would be unrecognizable.

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by shawnmmcc
I still think Chilis make a bigger difference to world cuisine than peppercorns, though.

Hah!

What is a cruet set ? What are the two commonest condiments in the Western world ?


Which peppery spice finds its way into masala tea, coffee, and has been in Indian and Chinese and South Asian cuisine since before the chilli was brought over from the New World ?


All bow to the green, the black the pink and the white- peppercorns peppercorns, rah rah rah....

Always a pleasure, shawn...

[Dinner]

Originally posted by shawnmmcc
Hoppies - at least according to the little angel in my avatar.

This bunny is way cooler then that bunny.

[Mr. Harley]

However, while the peppercorn may be the most used spice - something I'm not sure of, but I suspect you find it in more dishes than chilis - substitution wise chilis are more critical, IMHO. Without them there are more dishes I simply cannot cook properly than without peppercorns - by the way I actually use chilis in more dishes than pepercorns though I must admit it is very, very close.

Oerdin - I will NOT show that hoppy to my little girl - we have so far avoided her getting the idea you dress up live animals, and our kitty cat, while phenominally tolerant, I don't think is quite that forgiving.

However, in a stew with chilis, peppercorns, and potatoes - may add a touch of vinegar and some rosemary and thyme. Good hoppies.

[Imran Siddiqui]

If we are comparing 'hot' stuff, peppers beat out chilis. Though potatoes may PWN them all.

[chequita guevara]

Pepper made the Europeans conquer the world. Name any other foodstuff that drove that level of conquest?

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Ancient compressed animal & vegetable matter under intense heat and pressure turned all black and gooey.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Pepper made the Europeans conquer the world. Name any other foodstuff that drove that level of conquest?

Salt.

[Dinner]

Remember only you can url=http://www.savetoby.com/]Save Toby[/url]!

That gimick is brilliant and I wish I thought of it. Give me $50,000 or I will eat this cute little bunny!

The bastard has made $20k off of the idea so far.