Spices have been a globally traded luxury product for thousands of years, grown by mainly poor people who rarely make livable wages. They are also hard to trace, which means they go through many, many unknown hands before reaching a local store. But the spice trade has managed to change our world, for bad and for good. Now the global world of spice is again facing change.
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Spice Trade to Colonialism
The “spice trade” is a phrase referencing the ancient enterprise of spice trading among the historical civilizations in Asia, Northeast Africa, and Europe. It is believed by many, that the spice trade began with the movement of cinnamon and pepper, from India and Indonesia to Egypt. For over 5k years, Arabs served as the sole middlemen of the spice trade (1), moving spices from places of origin to places willing to pay for the luxury of those flavors.
- At 120 BCE, a sailor from India became shipwrecked at Greece, and wound up explaining to them how to ride the monsoon winds across the Arabian Sea to India (2). So when Rome took over Egypt in 30 BCE, they soon launched ships to India in search of their own spices. But eventually Rome fell in 250 CE, and the center of the world moved to the Byzantine Empire, and eventually to Europe.
UNESCO writes, that the word “spice” derives from the Latin species, or ‘special wares’, and refers to an item of special value, as opposed to ordinary articles of trade. Spices were highly valued because, as well as being used in cooking, many had ritual, religious or medical uses. They were of high value because of their relative geographical scarcity. Spices could only be grown in the tropical East, in the South of China, Indonesia as well as in Southern India and Sri Lanka. In particular, they grew in the Moluccas a chain of mountainous islands in the Pacific Ocean between Sulawesi and New Guinea. Some spices, such as cloves and nutmeg, grew nowhere else in the world.
UNESCO and others have written about the historical spice trade, and its routes across the lands as well as by sea. Along the way, every port or stopping point became an international spot for trade, learning, and treaties. We became global via the spice trade routes.
The amazing global exchange of spices and herbs, as well as many other ingredients and food techniques, is one of the lasting legacies of the ancient trade routes. They have given us all a shared culinary heritage. From concepts about food and nutrition, to ideas on maintaining a balance between what we eat and our health, and concepts about “hot” or “cold” foods, or ayurveda principles. All shared and moved along the routes, along with goods.
For spice and herbs specifically, the Spice Routes were also known as Maritime Silk Roads. The name given for the sea routes that linked the East with the West. They stretch from the west coast of Japan, through the islands of Indonesia, around India to the lands of the Middle East – and from there, across the Mediterranean to Europe (3). The spices that spurred such travels 5 centuries ago were pepper, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.
From the 12th to the 17th Centuries, spice was the most profitable commodity traded. LiveScience argues, that spices didn’t just make merchants rich across the globe — it established vast empires, revealed entire continents to Europeans and tipped the balance of world power. If the modern age has a definitive beginning, it was sparked by the spice trade. The financial success of the traders who charged vast amounts for their spices, were also secretive about their sources. What happened is mirrored in the Frank Herbert’s Dune stories, “he who controls the spice, controls the universe”; but in our case it was “they that control the spice, could divert the flow of wealth around the world” (4).
Eventually, the governments, spurned on by rich Europeans, could no longer afford to buy the high priced spice, herbs and teas. This directly lead to the subjugation of peoples and land through colonial conquests specifically for those products. Major European powers (Portugal, Spain, the Dutch and British) decided to get into the game, and take over the sources of these goods for the betterment of their economies, personal pockets, and their population.
- LiveScience tells: Spain and Portugal spent much of the 16th century fighting over cloves, while England and the Dutch dueled over nutmeg in Indonesia.
- Jammed with nutmeg trees, a tiny island called Run became the world’s most valuable real estate for a time in the 1600s, when England gave it up to The Netherlands in a treaty to end hostilities between the two nations. In exchange for Run, The Netherlands swapped a couple of colonies across the pond — including what is now known as the island of Manhattan.
Eventually, the Dutch and English East India Companies were next to exploit lands, enslave peoples, and steal goods in the conquest for financial gains. Globalization had begun, lands and their people became chess pieces to be moved around in treaties, all traded for spice, tea, or money.
Global Vs Local Spice
With the change in global politics, both of the East India Companies collapsed in the 17th and 18th centuries. And with their demise, the centralization of European control over spices, herbs, and teas was broken. Spices were being distributed and farmed in many places around the world, although there are still a few that only grow in certain areas.
- CivilEats: There are many common spices for which the climate in the U.S. is not conducive to commercial production, as tropical conditions are required, including black pepper, cinnamon, ginger, turmeric, cloves, et cetera,” said Laura Shumow, executive director of the American Spice Trade Association. “Although it may be possible to grow small quantities of these crops with a lot of care, the environment is simply not suited to growing sufficient quantities to meet the U.S. commercial demand.
The USA in general, and California in particular, has a robust local spice production on small to medium-sized farms that are meeting the critical needs for traceable foods, grown locally for freshness and quality, while also providing our farmers with needed additional sources of income. By no means are these farmers a threat to global markets, but I acknowledge that creating additional and local sources for food or spices or herbs, may in the future impact farmers and families in far away places who are decidedly poorer and more reliant on their farms than we are here in the USA.
However, right now the USA is nowhere close to the spice output of other countries, we do not even show up on any lists for spice volumes grown for global sale. The global requirement for, say pepper, far outweighs the ability of any combination of local and small farmers to meet. As there is an overwhelming need of spices for a taste-hungry human population.
- India is the largest producer, exporter, and consumer of spice and spice-related items.
- 85% of all Indian farms are considered small to marginal (5), those farms own <2 hectares (almost 5 acres) of land, and seasonally rotate spices with other food crops.
- India produces 75% of the globally available spice (6).
- Black Pepper is the most traded spice (7).
- The concerns facing spice farmers are: uncertain global pricing, climate change, over reliance on synthetic fertilizers, over use of chemical pesticides, and resistant pests (8).
- Their growth will rely on becoming sustainable, organic, hyper local, and relearning regenerative farming techniques.
For a USA cook like me, buying spice, as a global commodity, is problematic for several reasons.
- By the time I get the spice it has been through 10-20 hands.
- Each set of hands has the opportunity to cut the raw spice with cheap ingredients for better profits.
- The spice source gets lost and even mingled with spices from other countries or varieties
- It is not clear if “organic” or even “pesticide free” meets the same criteria as I expect
- The spice may be in transit or sitting in a warehouse for some time, bottom line, it is no longer fresh by the time I get it
- Sometimes the valuable essential oils have been mostly extracted and I may be left with the used spice
- Sometimes the spice or herbs on the shelf includes filler such as thyme leaves mixed in with bits of its branches
So one of the offshoots of the agricultural movement is the growing trend of farms in the USA considering spices as one of the crops they can grow to serve local needs.
- Anjali’s Cup in Hawaii, grows and makes turmeric blends for drinking
- Boonville Barn Collective, California, which produces Piment d’Ville (their version of Piment d’Espelette) on a seven-acre farm in a Northern California valley.
- Calabash Gardens, in Vermont, grows saffron (1)
- Farmers Spice, California, bay leaves, garlic, cloves, etc.
- La Puente, California, farms curry leaves (1)
- Old Friends Farm, Massachusetts, grows ginger and turmeric
- Peace and Plenty Farm in California, which grows saffron
- Southern Escape Vanilla in Florida, grows vanilla beans
Current Changes
Many historical civilizations in Asia and parts of Africa have had both the great opportunity to use spices natively grown in their countries, and have been the birthplace of spicing up the world. But also, they have had the great spice mongers as well, from local vendors to people in the great Bazaars. The number of people selling spice is a testament to the importance of spice in their history and cuisine, but also the importance spice is given to everyday households.
In Europe and the USA, we have only recently begun having ethical spice mongers cropping up in a storefront here and there.
- SFChronicle (2020): A number of direct-trade spice companies have emerged across the country over the past few years, prioritizing flavor and equity over profits. These companies are traveling to spice farms in India, Vietnam and Afghanistan, finding ambitious farmers growing a superior product and paying them as much as 10 times more than the commodity market. Three of these spice companies are in the Bay Area — a fitting extension of the region’s farm-to-table mentality.
While we have these new store chains, what has not really changed is the complex system of multiple traders, exporters and importers, with spices trading hands anywhere from five to 20 times between the farmer and the retailer. Also what has not changed is that all the middlemen tend to jack up prices and make the most money, with farmers getting pennies for their effort.
But the Bay Area has these great spice stores who have built up relationships with the farmers to provide to us better spices than can be bought in most grocery stores or by national brands. The spices available in these stores are fresher, brighter, with intense aromas we may not be accustomed to in the USA. They are also direct from the farmer so they get paid more, and we get transparency on how the spice was farmed, who farmed it, and exactly where it came from.
These are the spice-only places I could find that are local to the Bay Area.
- Diaspora Co.: Diaspora opened 2017, works exclusively with Indian + Sri Lankan farmers, and is renowned for its turmeric. Their spices are sold on-line or in other stores like Oaktown Spice Shop. They even sell Masala Dabba containers. The owner is Sana Javeri Kadri is a 28-year-old queer immigrant woman of color (read about her story here 1), important to note as these qualities have everything to do with how she operates.
- For national, web-sales only, I whole heartedly suggest Burlap & Barrel. They started in 2017 and are a Public Benefit Corporation, building new international spice supply chains that are equitable, transparent and traceable; directly supporting the farmers growing the spices.
- While not a retail service, Noble House Spice is a local spice company that sells wholesale and works with farmers to single source spices from Afghanistan, Cambodia, Guatemala, Syria and Vietnam.
- Oaktown Spice Shop: opened 2011, located in Oakland + Albany. An easy to get to space, and great to walk in and grab what you need.
- San Francisco Herb Company: opened in 1973, this company sells wholesale via on-line orders, but also has a store front in San Francisco.
- We Spice: this is a small shop that sells imported Ethiopian and Eritrean spices (and goods) from a storefront in San Francisco, on-line ordering is coming.
- Whole Spice, opened in 2000, a wholesale space in Petaluma, CA, but has a storefront in Napa.
A good group of farmers and store owners are trying hard to correct the awful conditions spices have been sold under, and improve the way farmers are treated. Their spice is also amazing, in that they outshine any industrialized commercial brand out there.
—Patty
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