On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 485

quicklybecamethemostpopularspiceofthe
ancientworld.InRome,lettucewasservedat
boththebeginningandendofmeals,andfruit
as dessert. Thanks to the art of grafting
growing shoots from desirable trees onto
other trees, there were about 25 named apple
varieties and 35 pears. Fruits were preserved
whole by immersing them, stems and all, in
honey, and the gastronome Apicius gave a
recipe for pickled peaches. From the Roman
recipes that survive, it would seem that few
foods were served without the application of
severalstrongflavors.
WhentheRomansconqueredEuropethey
broughtalongtreefruits,thevine,and
cultivatedcabbage,aswellastheirheavy
spicehabit.Saucerecipesfromthe14th
centuryresemblethoseofApicius,andthe
Englishlettuce-freesaladwouldalsohave
beenquitepungent(seebox,p.251).
Medievalrecipecollectionsincluderelatively
fewvegetabledishes.


New World, New Foods Plants — and
especially the spice plants — helped shape
world history in the last five centuries. The
ancientEuropeanhungerforAsianspiceswas
animportantdrivingforceinthedevelopment
of Italy, Portugal, Spain, Holland, and
England into major sea powers during the

Renaissance.Columbus,VascodaGama,John
Cabot, and Magellan were looking for a new
route to the Indies in order to break the
monopoly of Venice and southern Arabia on
theancienttradeincinnamon,cloves,nutmeg,
and black pepper. They failed in that quest,
butsucceededinopeningthe“WestIndies”to
European exploitation. The New World was
initially disappointing in its yield of soughtfor spices. But vanilla and chillis quickly
became popular; and its wealth of new
vegetables was largely adaptable to Europe’s
climate:sothecommonbean,corn,squashes,
tomatoes, potatoes, and sweet chillis
eventually became staple ingredients in the