The Geography of Spices and Herbs

Let's face it, spices are the best part about eating food. They're what go into sauces, seasonings, and directly onto our meals to make us want to eat. The fact that spices are great has been known for millennia now, and has at certain points in history led to tremendous changes in society, economics, and people. After all, Columbus was trying to find a new route to the East Indies to access the spice trade when he accidentally stumbled upon America. That means everything afterwards, the colonization, the destruction of the indigenous population, and even the Atlantic slave trade were all inadvertently caused by the search for spices. Before that, caravans would cross deserts and seas to transport spices from one end of the known world to another. Not only did this drive the exchange of goods and currency, but created cultural interaction and diffusion, leading to the spread of ideas, religions, and technology across the world. Despite the huge role spices have played in human history, few people know about the vital role geography plays Perhaps the most important thing to understand about them is that spices are defenses. Let me explain. So the same way predation of smaller animals by larger ones leads to certain animals developing some crazy defenses, plants are eaten by animals in what's called herbivory, which can lead to plants developing similar defenses over time. Some examples of this include plants growing thorns, high off the ground, and thick skins like bark. But by far the most common form of defense plants use are chemical defenses, usually by storing up a large amount of toxic chemicals in their bodies, so that when eaten by herbivores, it either kills them or at least injures them enough so that they never eat that plant again. So the same way poison dart frogs accumulate poison on their skin to deter predators from eating them, plants will store poisons in their bodies or fruits to deter herbivores. These poisons are our spices. For bigger animals like humans, this poison just tastes interesting or different because we have a much higher tolerance than the smaller organisms that these chemicals target. By now you might be asking, but they're still toxins, right? So why do we enjoy eating them at all? The answer to this is actually found in the single greatest plant predator on Earth, decomposers. More specifically, bacteria and fungus. Most often the toxins stored in the bodies of plants are to prevent the growth of these decomposers inside the body of the plant. If it weren't for these chemicals, decomposers could get in and, well, decompose things, killing the plant in the process. So now, think about humans a few thousand years ago. They'd hunt and catch animals and sometimes massive ones whose meat would sustain tribes for days or even weeks, but they couldn't simply put their leftovers in the fridge. Without that convenience, bacteria and fungus, like mold, would quickly grow and make any leftover food rancid. Hmm, if only there was a chemical designed to kill bacteria and fungus that was so abundant you could metaphorically say it grows on trees. Oh wait, here's this weird red thing that kind of makes my tongue tingle when I eat it, but it does exactly that. So yeah, spices were used to kill any bacteria and such growing on our food in order to prolong the window in which it could be eaten. They'd also help mask any bad flavor the meat had acquired due to rot. This made spices extremely valuable. If you wanted to survive, you had to be able to stomach these toxins. Therefore, whoever was more resilient to the toxins we called spices were more capable of surviving in times of scarce food options. Basically, whoever could handle spicier foods could eat the safest food. In this way, evolution selected towards us not only being spice tolerant, but actually for us to enjoy the flavors of spice because it meant we were eating safe food. But the use of spice didn't happen evenly across all human populations. If you think about it, we put food in refrigerators to make them colder so that they last longer. This has to do with the metabolism rates of bacteria and such, as metabolisms occur at faster rates in warmer temperatures, meaning bacteria can eat and reproduce faster and cause even more damage. Therefore, putting food in a warm environment will shorten the amount of time that it's safe to eat. What this results in is food rotting faster in areas that experience warmer climates, like the tropics. To combat this, a greater quantity and diversity of spices are typically used in tropical and subtropical places to counteract the higher rates of bacterial growth. In colder places, like the temperate regions, the opposite is true. Sometimes, the temperature here can fall below freezing, and food will stay good if you just leave it outside, meaning there's less of a need to season it with spices. It also just so happens that it gets cold right around the same time food gets sparse, and preservation becomes a necessity. Think, in the summer, food is usually plentiful, and therefore there's no real need to preserve food because you can always find more. But in the winter, animals take refuge and all the plants lose their foliage and fruits, so the food people can find has to last longer. What I'm getting at is the only time food needs to be preserved in the temperate areas, the environment does it for us. But in the tropical regions, the dry season will come to make food scarce, but high temperatures persist, making spicing food necessary. This explains why cuisine in, let's say, Britain is disgusting, but food in, let's say, India is amazing. This is also why so many Europeans valued spices so much and sailed everywhere in the world looking for trade routes to access these spices. On the biological side of this, because bacteria and fungi grow faster in warmer conditions, plants around the equator are more likely to store up chemical defenses to dissuade them as well. So not only did people who lived in the tropics have a greater need for spices, they also had a greater and more diverse arsenal of spices to choose from. This has led certain areas on the globe to develop abundant natural spices. Because of this, instead of doing what I did with fruits and go through each fruit individually, I decided this time to go through the hot spots and then catch any spices that don't belong to a certain hot spot at the end. The first important concentration is to be found in India and the rest of Southeast Asia. This area stretches from the subtropical into the tropical and once hosted the largest and oldest rainforest on the planet. Southern India is where basil, turmeric, and black pepper, the most common pepper we use today, comes from. Curry also originated here, but that's actually a combination of several different spices, not just one plant. Further south, it's thought that cinnamon first began in Sri Lanka. To the east, we have where ginger and the licorice plant got their start. And yeah, before you ask, it's the root of the licorice plant that we use to flavor licorice candy. Lastly, for this region, we maybe have the most common spice currently being used in the world, sugar. A lot of people might disagree with this, but if you think about it, it's just another plant-derived substance we use to flavor our food, which is exactly what every other spice is too. Whether or not you consider it a spice though, sugarcane, the plant responsible for 80% of our sugar production, is thought to have come from this region as well. Nearby are what's called the Maluku or Malukus Islands in Indonesia. However, they used to have the much simpler name, the Spice Islands. From these few small islands, cloves, mace, and nutmeg originated. It was these islands in particular that drove the Portuguese, and later the Dutch, into the East Indies, and it was a trade route to these islands that Columbus was looking for when he set sail in 1492. Then, on the other side of the world, Mexico was also a hub of maybe a lot of people's favorites. It was here that both paprika and vanilla originated. What's strange is that traces of vanillin, the compound that gives vanilla its flavor, has been found in Old World tombs dating back thousands of years. Archaeologists found the substance coating the jugs within an untouched Bronze Age tomb in Megiddo, Israel. This indicates there might have been some exchange between the Americas and the Old World almost 4,000 years ago. Also, they were using vanilla to flavor their olive oil, which, I don't know, just doesn't sound good. If that isn't enough though, it was also here that the cacao tree, what we use to make chocolate, was also first domesticated, most likely by the Olmec or Mokaia people, though the plant itself likely originated further south in the Amazon region. This plant was so prized that its beans were used as currency throughout several different Mesoamerican cultures. What's funny is that initially, this plant wasn't desired for its beans, which is the part we now use to make chocolate, but instead, it was the sweet pulp of the plant that was highly valued because it would be fermented and used to make alcohol. Iran is actually where a lot of spices are grown today, as its hot and arid climate replicate those found in places like the Mediterranean and Mexico very well. As for what spices originated here, both cilantro slash coriander, yeah, they're the same thing, and cumin came from this area. But I saved the most important herb and spice hotspot for last, the Mediterranean region. To start, the most common type of bay leaf comes from this region, though different types can be found across the world. Chamomile also came from this region. Mostly used for tea now, it got its name in English via French, via Latin, via the Greek word chamomile, meaning earth apple. Fennel plants aren't too popular, but they're one of the main ingredients in making absinthe. The Greek word for fennel is marathos, and marathon literally translates into field of fennel. So the Greek city of Marathon was originally just built in a field of fennel and named accordingly. Then a battle between the Greeks and Persians happened here, and someone had to run 26 miles to Athens to tell them about it. And that's how we ended up with the marathon race. Lavender also came from the Mediterranean region, which for the longest time went by the Greek name nard. So good call switching it to lavender. Mint has spread across the world, but it's thought to have originated here as well, though it grows best in wetter climates. Primarily, mint is grown near other more important plants, so its pungent smell keeps other pests away. It's basically only humans that actually like the smell and taste of mint, which is weird because mint is almost exclusively used because we think it smells good. Breath mints, toothpaste, mouthwash, and chewing gum all use the aroma of this leaf, which only exists to keep herbivores from eating it with its awful smell. Actually, I guess that does make sense, because if your breath smells like something that kills bacteria, then your mouth must not have any bacteria, and therefore must be clean. Anyway, mustard plants also got their start in this region. While many might be thinking of the condiment mustard, which is made from the seeds of mustard plants, mustard as a family includes the genus Brassica, which also includes turnips, cabbage, collard greens, kale, cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts, and canola plants. Yeah, mustards are more important than people realize. Oregano, on the other hand, is known to have originated specifically in Greece, and its name comes from the Greek words oros, meaning mountain, and ganos, meaning joy, to make joy of the mountains, which is where wild oregano first grew. Saffron is one of the most expensive spices by weight, and that's because the part we use as a spice comes from the elongated stigmas, this part of the saffron flower, which usually only yield a couple per flower. They were specially bred on the island of Crete during the Bronze Age to be like this. From here, it spread to become popular in foods and medicines. While rosemary, sage, and thyme also come from this general region. They're pretty regular spices, I couldn't find anything cool or specific to say about them though. And that wraps up all the major hot spots for spices. Next, we have the spices that appeared all on their own. Allspice, which has been described as sort of tasting like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves all together, is also known by another name, Jamaican pimenta. So yeah, no surprise, allspice got its start on the island of Jamaica in the Caribbean. Cayenne peppers are the classic red pepper most people probably think about when thinking of spicy peppers. These actually come from the French Guiana in South America, specifically from the Cayenne region. Funny how that worked out. The name cayenne originally comes from the native Tupi word, which also just means pepper, so cayenne pepper literally translates into pepper pepper. Garlic, in my opinion, is just the best, and comes from Central Asia, where Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and the Chinese Jiangshan Mountains meet. Then we have jasmine, which is actually a genus containing over 200 individual species. Being so numerous, it's hard to track just exactly where they started, but it's thought that southern China is where they came from. Sassafras is really the only spice I have on this list that comes from a more temperate, wet climate. Originating in the east coast of North America, roughly from Ontario, Canada to Florida in the United States. It's the root of this tree that was used to flavor root beer, hence the name root beer. And lastly, we have the spice melange, which we all know is native to and only grows on the desert planet of Arrakis. Thanks for watching, I hope you enjoyed this, and if you did, maybe consider liking and subscribing. If you'd like to support me and this channel, you can throw a little spice my way through my Patreon, like these guys. These donations really help me continue making these videos, so thank you to everyone who has already donated. Other than that, check out my Twitter for updates, and I'll be back soon with another video. Thanks!