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Pepper: A History of the World's Most Influential Spice
This book illuminates the rich history of pepper. Vivid and entertaining, it describes the part pepper played in bringing in the Europeans, and later the Americans, to Asia and details the fascinating encounters they had there.
302 pages, Hardcover
First published April 2, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
July 3, 2017
The first 30-40% percent of this book was eminently enjoyable. The remainder, however, dragged unpleasantly on. Though each paragraph was well-written, I had difficulty finding a cohesive thesis to bind the work together; each page seemed to be a self-contained historical accounting, sorted thematically and chronologically by the book's chapter structure, but without causal relation to its neighboring passages. As a result, making progress became a chore of enduring yet another story about some usually minor pepper-related sortie.
With that said, there was plenty to love about this book. Especially in early chapters—this, too, would drop out of fashion in the second half—it was fun to follow along each historical recounting by using the hand-drawn maps headlining each chapter. My knowledge of geography around the Indian Ocean is five times what it was before I read Shaffer. And to Shaffer's credit, I suspect that the book received as much cohesive work as could be reasonably expected; there was crossover in historical figures and cities and events between chapters, which helped somewhat in remembering who the key (or, at least, well historically documented) players were. Unfortunately, I wonder if there simply isn't enough historical material, or enough sufficiently interesting history, to make for a popular history novel of this length. It's a shame it couldn't be split into a popular book half its size with a corresponding academic work for the interested expert—not me, that is.
My suggestion: read the book at least a third of the way through, and if you find yourself weary, just scan the chapter titles and maps until the end. Make sure you pause to read the second to last chapter, which was pretty neat, and perhaps the last chapter, if you're into that sort of thing.
With that said, there was plenty to love about this book. Especially in early chapters—this, too, would drop out of fashion in the second half—it was fun to follow along each historical recounting by using the hand-drawn maps headlining each chapter. My knowledge of geography around the Indian Ocean is five times what it was before I read Shaffer. And to Shaffer's credit, I suspect that the book received as much cohesive work as could be reasonably expected; there was crossover in historical figures and cities and events between chapters, which helped somewhat in remembering who the key (or, at least, well historically documented) players were. Unfortunately, I wonder if there simply isn't enough historical material, or enough sufficiently interesting history, to make for a popular history novel of this length. It's a shame it couldn't be split into a popular book half its size with a corresponding academic work for the interested expert—not me, that is.
My suggestion: read the book at least a third of the way through, and if you find yourself weary, just scan the chapter titles and maps until the end. Make sure you pause to read the second to last chapter, which was pretty neat, and perhaps the last chapter, if you're into that sort of thing.
March 21, 2016
One of the many food related books my uncle gave me....
War is bad.
History books glamorize colonization - there is nothing glamorous about it.
I learned more about the history of pepper than I ever expected. And I enjoyed learning it.
War is bad.
History books glamorize colonization - there is nothing glamorous about it.
I learned more about the history of pepper than I ever expected. And I enjoyed learning it.
December 29, 2013
Among my Christmas gifts, were a couple of books I received from my brother and sister-in-law here in Winnipeg. Both of these were books of food history. I’ve just finished the first of these, called Pepper: A History of the World’s Most Influential Spice. In it, author Marjorie Schaffer details the history of pepper and in particular it’s influence in the development of European colonial history, and modern global trade, The book also opens and closes by looking at pepper’s medicinal qualities.
One thing to notice about the book is found in the title. This is a book about pepper, not peppers. If you are looking for a history of the chili, for example, you won’t find it here. There is a brief mention of chilies, as it relates to Columbus trying to pass them off as peppers, but the book is devoted to pepper. Those few plants that comprise the piper family of plants.
In the first two chapters Schaffer, fairly briefly and concisely deals with the origins and uses of pepper; In chapters 3 to 8 she deals with the effects of pepper on global trade, and the environment. Finally, in the last chapter she comes back to the potential of pepper in medicinal practice.
While many countries were involved in the trading of pepper, Schaffer focuses primarily on the exploits of the English and the Dutch. In part because they were the two major players in the pepper trade (China decided to get out, just about the time these two countries were starting), in part because they also had the greatest animosity towards each other.
Treachery abounds in the history of pepper. The Dutch appear to be the most brutal of all, but no one party is free of guilt for their behaviour. It should be noted that also includes the rulers of the regions where the pepper was grown. As well, just because the Dutch methods were more physically violent, doesn’t mean that other countries such as England and the U.S. were less destructive in their actions. This is especially true when we look at the development of the opium trade alongside the pepper trade.
Summary:
Schaffer has done a good job in giving us a history of pepper. She has researched thoroughly, yet maintained the story in history. One will come away from the book with a better understanding of both the spice and the way in which it shaped history. Schaffer gives enough information to satisfy your curiosity, but leaves enough unsaid to encourage further discovery. This seems to be what a good history book should do.
Reading Pepper will give you a good sense of the cost of this spice. Cost that is not only made up of dollars and cents, but human costs as well.
One thing to notice about the book is found in the title. This is a book about pepper, not peppers. If you are looking for a history of the chili, for example, you won’t find it here. There is a brief mention of chilies, as it relates to Columbus trying to pass them off as peppers, but the book is devoted to pepper. Those few plants that comprise the piper family of plants.
In the first two chapters Schaffer, fairly briefly and concisely deals with the origins and uses of pepper; In chapters 3 to 8 she deals with the effects of pepper on global trade, and the environment. Finally, in the last chapter she comes back to the potential of pepper in medicinal practice.
While many countries were involved in the trading of pepper, Schaffer focuses primarily on the exploits of the English and the Dutch. In part because they were the two major players in the pepper trade (China decided to get out, just about the time these two countries were starting), in part because they also had the greatest animosity towards each other.
Treachery abounds in the history of pepper. The Dutch appear to be the most brutal of all, but no one party is free of guilt for their behaviour. It should be noted that also includes the rulers of the regions where the pepper was grown. As well, just because the Dutch methods were more physically violent, doesn’t mean that other countries such as England and the U.S. were less destructive in their actions. This is especially true when we look at the development of the opium trade alongside the pepper trade.
Summary:
Schaffer has done a good job in giving us a history of pepper. She has researched thoroughly, yet maintained the story in history. One will come away from the book with a better understanding of both the spice and the way in which it shaped history. Schaffer gives enough information to satisfy your curiosity, but leaves enough unsaid to encourage further discovery. This seems to be what a good history book should do.
Reading Pepper will give you a good sense of the cost of this spice. Cost that is not only made up of dollars and cents, but human costs as well.
March 22, 2017
Not the best book, for me anyhow. I realize it's called "A History" for a reason, but to me there was actually too much history. The sea voyages from the Dutch East India Company/VOC, English East India Company. Portuguese ships, Chinese ships, American ships, etc. to India and Sumatra all ran together to me. I would have preferred a little or even a lot more science. Like, what is pepper? How is it grown? How is it cultivated? How is it harvested? How is it packed for shipment? (I realize that it came in bags or barrels of different weights, but more info, please!) 15 pages at the beginning of the book was not sufficient to me.
I was also really confused about the chapter towards the end (Chapter Eight: An Infinite Number of Seals,) which talked about the various animals caught and eaten by the ships' crews. It was really out of place to me in this book.
I read Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky some time ago and it was brilliant. Was hoping that Pepper would measure up to it. It didn't.
I was also really confused about the chapter towards the end (Chapter Eight: An Infinite Number of Seals,) which talked about the various animals caught and eaten by the ships' crews. It was really out of place to me in this book.
I read Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky some time ago and it was brilliant. Was hoping that Pepper would measure up to it. It didn't.
July 31, 2017
An okay book. But it dragged in parts and it could have been a lot better. It was quite detailed around the trade of pepper. And it did have one interesting chapter on current medicinal exploration. But I would have liked to have seen a more detailed analysis of the plant itself. And a discussion of the varieties of pepper sold today and the differences. And more pictures of pepper. And more discussion of the manufacturing process.
August 27, 2013
I was torn between 2 and 3 stars personally. Not a bad book, in fact in some ways a fairly interesting book if you weren't familiar with the subject already.
Despite the title most of the book is not so much about the history of Pepper but more about Europe colonialism and the spice trade. All interesting stuff but material I was pretty familiar with having done a lot of undergraduate/graduate work in East Asian and Latin American history.
Most of the sections weren't so much specific to pepper but to European voyages for spices and a number of riches of which pepper was a part. But really apply pretty much to a variety of things. The sections of history that were really about pepper or pepper in general were a smaller section of the book. Sadly, I was looking more for that myself.
Good read if you know little about the Colonialism and the often horrific history of the spice trade. If you already know that and are looking for more about Pepper (hence the title of the book) there are really only a chapter or so in the beginning and at the end that are more about that.
Still kind of recommended even if it wasn't all I was looking for.
Despite the title most of the book is not so much about the history of Pepper but more about Europe colonialism and the spice trade. All interesting stuff but material I was pretty familiar with having done a lot of undergraduate/graduate work in East Asian and Latin American history.
Most of the sections weren't so much specific to pepper but to European voyages for spices and a number of riches of which pepper was a part. But really apply pretty much to a variety of things. The sections of history that were really about pepper or pepper in general were a smaller section of the book. Sadly, I was looking more for that myself.
Good read if you know little about the Colonialism and the often horrific history of the spice trade. If you already know that and are looking for more about Pepper (hence the title of the book) there are really only a chapter or so in the beginning and at the end that are more about that.
Still kind of recommended even if it wasn't all I was looking for.
October 30, 2015
Whew. Learned a lot. This was very heavy on the history of the trade of pepper. Not so much the pepper plant itself. And I could have done without the bits of torture. Gah! A bit dry at times but worthy of the time spent reading it.
February 11, 2019
I enjoyed this book but parts were hard to keep going as it seemed a little sporadic and I couldn’t follow her thesis.
October 23, 2019
Overall well rounded look not only at the spice pepper - first through it's botanical biology, the difference between some varieties like black verses white pepper, it's relation to betel - which is chewed extensively through Southeast Asia and India - and a focus on European trade expeditions.
Pepper moved into ancient Rome along the Arabian trade routes in continued with the addition of the Silk Roads as the preliminary ways that the spice traveled to Europe. And it was pepper, nutmeg, mace and the other spices that pushed the explorations of the Portuguese to find alternatives paths, attempting to cut out the so-called middle-men.
Before going to depth on the exploitation of the areas, a short history of spice and pepper gardening on the islands of Sumatra and Indonesia as well as the Malay Peninsula and Vietnam.
In comes the Portuguese followed by the Dutch which conducted vicious bitter battles for a commodity limited only by the pepper gardens planted and harvested by the natives. Each European trade ship wanted priority and restricted access to various ports and their product. It was not unusual for ships to literally go to battle in order to steal cargo. If they managed to establish themselves in native villages, they bullied and brutalized the natives making high demands on pepper growth, even to the point where families didn't have enough land or time to take care of the pepper vines as well as grow food for themselves.
The phrase of forced cultivation was used but it was just a fancy term for slavery. That's if they survived the near genocide of various villages who dared to rebel against the Europeans which by now was dominated by the Dutch East India Company as well as the English East India Company.
Eventually a treaty in 1666 between the Dutch and English which had the Dutch get the island of Run (part of the Molaccas) while England got the island of Manhattan. We can look back and wonder if England got the better deal but the Dutch removed millions of tons of pepper, nutmeg and mace. The Dutch, in turn, destroyed numerous spice trees in an attempt to limit the availability of their product.
Trade in the area was not limited - literally if merchants could find a product available at 'home' that could be traded in the area for pepper and spices, it was. Textiles from silks to calicoes and cottons. Precious metals and gems. Muskets and tea. And eventually opium which opened up a whole new form of devastation on world society. By 1795, the Americans joined the purveyors of pepper and the exploitation of the islands. They were not saints either with their false weights and pressure applied against other nations ships as well as fellow American ships vying for a full cargo.
This was also the time of Malay pirates which literally would strip a ship clean if it was captured.
The book ends with various medicinal uses of pepper especially in Ayurvedic medicine centered in India and how modern scientists are investigating those claims. It has been discovered that the compound piperine (an alkaloid responsible for the pungency of Black and Long pepper) does have some health benefits. As does some of the compounds in betel. At the time of the book's publishing, there were numerous recommendations for further study into those benefits as well as the side effects.
It's an overall enlightening view of what early trade actually entailed and it wasn't pretty. You really have to wonder if the benefits - for example, the extensive exploration that connected the far reaches of the world - are worth the consequences of environmental destruction, genocide and subjugation of native peoples. And so it continues to this day - just change the item being traded.
The body of the book ends on page 228, with 2 pages of acknowledgements, over 40 pages of notes, 12 pages of selected bibliography resources and the index.
2019-150
Pepper moved into ancient Rome along the Arabian trade routes in continued with the addition of the Silk Roads as the preliminary ways that the spice traveled to Europe. And it was pepper, nutmeg, mace and the other spices that pushed the explorations of the Portuguese to find alternatives paths, attempting to cut out the so-called middle-men.
Before going to depth on the exploitation of the areas, a short history of spice and pepper gardening on the islands of Sumatra and Indonesia as well as the Malay Peninsula and Vietnam.
In comes the Portuguese followed by the Dutch which conducted vicious bitter battles for a commodity limited only by the pepper gardens planted and harvested by the natives. Each European trade ship wanted priority and restricted access to various ports and their product. It was not unusual for ships to literally go to battle in order to steal cargo. If they managed to establish themselves in native villages, they bullied and brutalized the natives making high demands on pepper growth, even to the point where families didn't have enough land or time to take care of the pepper vines as well as grow food for themselves.
The phrase of forced cultivation was used but it was just a fancy term for slavery. That's if they survived the near genocide of various villages who dared to rebel against the Europeans which by now was dominated by the Dutch East India Company as well as the English East India Company.
Eventually a treaty in 1666 between the Dutch and English which had the Dutch get the island of Run (part of the Molaccas) while England got the island of Manhattan. We can look back and wonder if England got the better deal but the Dutch removed millions of tons of pepper, nutmeg and mace. The Dutch, in turn, destroyed numerous spice trees in an attempt to limit the availability of their product.
Trade in the area was not limited - literally if merchants could find a product available at 'home' that could be traded in the area for pepper and spices, it was. Textiles from silks to calicoes and cottons. Precious metals and gems. Muskets and tea. And eventually opium which opened up a whole new form of devastation on world society. By 1795, the Americans joined the purveyors of pepper and the exploitation of the islands. They were not saints either with their false weights and pressure applied against other nations ships as well as fellow American ships vying for a full cargo.
This was also the time of Malay pirates which literally would strip a ship clean if it was captured.
The book ends with various medicinal uses of pepper especially in Ayurvedic medicine centered in India and how modern scientists are investigating those claims. It has been discovered that the compound piperine (an alkaloid responsible for the pungency of Black and Long pepper) does have some health benefits. As does some of the compounds in betel. At the time of the book's publishing, there were numerous recommendations for further study into those benefits as well as the side effects.
It's an overall enlightening view of what early trade actually entailed and it wasn't pretty. You really have to wonder if the benefits - for example, the extensive exploration that connected the far reaches of the world - are worth the consequences of environmental destruction, genocide and subjugation of native peoples. And so it continues to this day - just change the item being traded.
The body of the book ends on page 228, with 2 pages of acknowledgements, over 40 pages of notes, 12 pages of selected bibliography resources and the index.
2019-150
Read
February 28, 2023The story of pepper is a horrible story. It didn’t start out horrible. Black pepper (absolutely no relation to chili pepper) is native to India. It also grows great in Malaysia and Indonesia. The plant is a vine that climbs up trees, and produces spikes of red berries, that when dried become the peppercorns we know, that just spice everything up a bit. But pepper only grows in the tropics, so if anyone else wanted it, they had to come and get it.
And for centuries, that’s what happened. The Indians and Arabs and Chinese traded nicely amongst themselves. Arab traders carried pepper overland and sold it to Europe. The ancient Romans loved it. The kings and queens of medieval Europe loved it.
(The author writes that a persistent factoid claims that Europeans craved pepper to cover up the taste of rotting meat. She says it isn’t true. It was mostly rich people who were buying pepper, and they could afford fresh meat. They killed the animals right before the dinner. They just liked their food spicy.)
In the 15th century everything changed. The Portuguese decided they were tired of paying the middle man, and wanted to go get the spices themselves. (Pepper was the #1 spice, but nutmeg and cloves were also traded.) They sailed their ships around Africa and began the Age of Exploration.
The Portuguese didn’t just want to buy spices, though. They wanted to monopolize the spice trade. They wanted to be the only country allowed to buy and sell pepper, and they would attack anyone else who tried. They wanted to control the supply, and drive prices up, and make insanely high profits.
The Portuguese never succeeded at controlling the whole pepper trade, and their influence gradually faded. They were replaced by the English East India Company, and the Dutch East India Company, who both had the same game plan: control everything.
There was one relatively brief golden age, in the 1600s, when the Sultan of Aceh, a town on the tip of the island of Sumatra, remained independent and prosperous. The people had nice houses and nice clothes. The Sultan welcomed European traders, and brought them to his palace riding on elephants, and served them on golden dishes. The Sultan had parties in the middle of a river, eating and drinking while servants poured refreshing cool water on him.
The English said that the Dutch started it, militarily attacking the port cities, taking them over and building forts. The English said they just started doing that to keep up, but they did a good job keeping up. At Benkoolen, the English treated the local people as virtual slaves, requiring them to grow more and more pepper, jailing or beating them if they failed to meet quotas, and driving the people to near starvation because they didn’t have time to grow food for themselves.
All this while the English and Dutch were also attacking each other, stealing from each other, and using false weights to measure the pepper. American traders from Massachusetts began to cut in on the trade. The Americans began respectfully enough, but on two occasions, American ships were attacked by Malaysian pirates, and the Americans sought revenge by burning and slaughtering Malaysian villagers who probably had had nothing to do with the piracy.
And if that wasn’t enough death and destruction, there’s a whole chapter on how the pepper trading ships ran out of provisions, and sought to restock on islands they passed, and how they found thousands and thousands of seals, and very tasty tortoises, and these flightless birds called dodoes. They didn’t just eat what they needed, but had orgies of killing.
Anyway, the Dutch East India Company collapsed from internal corruption, and the British company followed soon after. The idea of free trade arose, and that’s where we are now. But before that, the author quotes Voltaire as saying that all the world’s pepper was “dyed red with blood.”
And for centuries, that’s what happened. The Indians and Arabs and Chinese traded nicely amongst themselves. Arab traders carried pepper overland and sold it to Europe. The ancient Romans loved it. The kings and queens of medieval Europe loved it.
(The author writes that a persistent factoid claims that Europeans craved pepper to cover up the taste of rotting meat. She says it isn’t true. It was mostly rich people who were buying pepper, and they could afford fresh meat. They killed the animals right before the dinner. They just liked their food spicy.)
In the 15th century everything changed. The Portuguese decided they were tired of paying the middle man, and wanted to go get the spices themselves. (Pepper was the #1 spice, but nutmeg and cloves were also traded.) They sailed their ships around Africa and began the Age of Exploration.
The Portuguese didn’t just want to buy spices, though. They wanted to monopolize the spice trade. They wanted to be the only country allowed to buy and sell pepper, and they would attack anyone else who tried. They wanted to control the supply, and drive prices up, and make insanely high profits.
The Portuguese never succeeded at controlling the whole pepper trade, and their influence gradually faded. They were replaced by the English East India Company, and the Dutch East India Company, who both had the same game plan: control everything.
There was one relatively brief golden age, in the 1600s, when the Sultan of Aceh, a town on the tip of the island of Sumatra, remained independent and prosperous. The people had nice houses and nice clothes. The Sultan welcomed European traders, and brought them to his palace riding on elephants, and served them on golden dishes. The Sultan had parties in the middle of a river, eating and drinking while servants poured refreshing cool water on him.
The English said that the Dutch started it, militarily attacking the port cities, taking them over and building forts. The English said they just started doing that to keep up, but they did a good job keeping up. At Benkoolen, the English treated the local people as virtual slaves, requiring them to grow more and more pepper, jailing or beating them if they failed to meet quotas, and driving the people to near starvation because they didn’t have time to grow food for themselves.
All this while the English and Dutch were also attacking each other, stealing from each other, and using false weights to measure the pepper. American traders from Massachusetts began to cut in on the trade. The Americans began respectfully enough, but on two occasions, American ships were attacked by Malaysian pirates, and the Americans sought revenge by burning and slaughtering Malaysian villagers who probably had had nothing to do with the piracy.
And if that wasn’t enough death and destruction, there’s a whole chapter on how the pepper trading ships ran out of provisions, and sought to restock on islands they passed, and how they found thousands and thousands of seals, and very tasty tortoises, and these flightless birds called dodoes. They didn’t just eat what they needed, but had orgies of killing.
Anyway, the Dutch East India Company collapsed from internal corruption, and the British company followed soon after. The idea of free trade arose, and that’s where we are now. But before that, the author quotes Voltaire as saying that all the world’s pepper was “dyed red with blood.”
November 20, 2018
I read this at a sex party once. It's rare for food media geared for a mainstream audience to discuss colonialism plainly – foods are often "found" or "brought" to places. This book goes beyond a cursory glance at the role of enslavement by European powers in bringing pepper into western cooking canon, which is why I suspect it's been afforded a much less glamorous reputation than its counterpart Salt: A World History, which spends like a whole chapter detailing catty Greek men negging each other about fish sauce.
December 21, 2019
这本书从一种特定香料的角度来书写地理大发现与殖民时期的历史故事。这本是一个非常有趣的角度，也是我买下这本书并投入时间阅读的原因，但读完之后感觉本书并没有什么特殊的地方。
作者最终落脚点还是全球贸易，还是殖民地的故事。不客气地说，如果不看具体的年份，把书中所有的“胡椒”二字替换成“丝绸”、“茶叶”、“肉豆蔻”或者“丁香”，全书似乎也没有什么不妥之处。香料让冒险家们在全世界探索，但他们要找的不仅仅是胡椒这种东西。想起一句来自迪士尼长片动画 Pocahontas 的台词：You think you own whatever land you land on. The earth is just a dead thing you can claim. 这才是地理大发现时期的主题吧。
此外，我也不知道为什么作者会加上一章“胡椒入药”，而且讲的不是历史，是现在和未来，简直是莫名其妙。
作者最终落脚点还是全球贸易，还是殖民地的故事。不客气地说，如果不看具体的年份，把书中所有的“胡椒”二字替换成“丝绸”、“茶叶”、“肉豆蔻”或者“丁香”，全书似乎也没有什么不妥之处。香料让冒险家们在全世界探索，但他们要找的不仅仅是胡椒这种东西。想起一句来自迪士尼长片动画 Pocahontas 的台词：You think you own whatever land you land on. The earth is just a dead thing you can claim. 这才是地理大发现时期的主题吧。
此外，我也不知道为什么作者会加上一章“胡椒入药”，而且讲的不是历史，是现在和未来，简直是莫名其妙。
February 18, 2021
I tried hard to like this book but it’s so much more a screed than the culinary history it claims to be. Reading it felt like getting trapped in the corner of a cocktail party with that person who can only talk about the one thing they care about.
December 27, 2024
I read about 1/3 of the book, then I felt like I was back in grade 11 history class. The chapters are long, there is a lot of information and dates… lots of dates…. I found it very hard to stay interested or motivated to finish the book. Last two chapters are interesting.
December 17, 2025
Of the “commodity” books I’ve read to date, this ranks with Empire of Cotton asa true world history and not a somewhat random accumulation of factoids. It fills in some of the gaps in the rise of the VOC and EIC. Definitely worth adding to your collection of books about empire.
May 23, 2019
It is not as good as salt.
March 12, 2020
Not really what I was hoping to read. Much of the book was tangential to pepper.
June 26, 2020
Interesting if a little jumpy. The last two chapters also feel like an afterthought in what otherwise reads like a complete history back centuries.
August 1, 2021
Interesting story"
June 11, 2013
Pepper: A History of the World’s Most Influential Spice by Marjorie Shaffer is a non-fiction book tracing history through the trade of black pepper. Ms. Shaffer is a business reporter and science writer.
This is an interesting book about this culinary delight. The book journeys through the ages and the competition between the Dutch, English and Portuguese merchants. A nod towards the end of the book to 19th Century American pepper traders ties up the history nicely.
The most interesting part of the book was the use of pepper for medicinal purposes. I am not a big believer in medication, not that I have anything against taking medication, I just think we take too much of it and without any precautions. When needed to I will take medication but I don’t want to be a guinea pig for big-pharma nor do I want to introduce harmful chemicals to my body instead of natural alternatives. Pepper, it seems, has been used as almost a “cure all” for many diseases, over the years that knowledge was lost but now scientists are starting to discover that maybe there is something to it after all.
Pepper, at the time, was a very valuable commodity, more than gold or silver. In 1498, Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama managed to get around the Cape of Good Hope and opened up the sear routes to China and India. Unknowingly, de Gama made it possible for the super-powers at the time to establish colonies.
Sea fairing was a dangerous occupation and the book doesn’t mince words. The history of this pungent spice is riddled with pirates, wealth and greed. Characters of all types grace the pages of history, from William Dampier, an English pirate who protested the treatment of natives, to Jan Pieterszoon Coen, a brutal governor.
Those looking for recipes or culinary uses for black pepper are sure to be disappointed, those looking for a frank, honest look at history of trade and empire building. The author uses first-person accounts from journals and ship logs to make interesting points and bring history to life.
For more reviews and bookish posts please visit: http://www.ManOfLaBook.com
This is an interesting book about this culinary delight. The book journeys through the ages and the competition between the Dutch, English and Portuguese merchants. A nod towards the end of the book to 19th Century American pepper traders ties up the history nicely.
The most interesting part of the book was the use of pepper for medicinal purposes. I am not a big believer in medication, not that I have anything against taking medication, I just think we take too much of it and without any precautions. When needed to I will take medication but I don’t want to be a guinea pig for big-pharma nor do I want to introduce harmful chemicals to my body instead of natural alternatives. Pepper, it seems, has been used as almost a “cure all” for many diseases, over the years that knowledge was lost but now scientists are starting to discover that maybe there is something to it after all.
Pepper, at the time, was a very valuable commodity, more than gold or silver. In 1498, Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama managed to get around the Cape of Good Hope and opened up the sear routes to China and India. Unknowingly, de Gama made it possible for the super-powers at the time to establish colonies.
Sea fairing was a dangerous occupation and the book doesn’t mince words. The history of this pungent spice is riddled with pirates, wealth and greed. Characters of all types grace the pages of history, from William Dampier, an English pirate who protested the treatment of natives, to Jan Pieterszoon Coen, a brutal governor.
Those looking for recipes or culinary uses for black pepper are sure to be disappointed, those looking for a frank, honest look at history of trade and empire building. The author uses first-person accounts from journals and ship logs to make interesting points and bring history to life.
For more reviews and bookish posts please visit: http://www.ManOfLaBook.com
January 13, 2014
Three and a half stars. Really interesting premise and as the author notes, the academic research on pepper has not previously been popularised (at least I haven't seen any other easily accessible book about it). I was very interested in all the colour plates in the middle describing the different relatives of pepper.
However, I have returned it to the library without finishing it as I felt it was getting repetitive.
However, I have returned it to the library without finishing it as I felt it was getting repetitive.
October 25, 2015
This book is really more about the history of the early pepper trade/trading route around Sumatra, as well as the Spice Islands, involving the East India Trading Company and the Dutch India Trading Company. I was hoping there would be more history on pepper, its usage throughout time, and uses today, but it really was more on how the trading of pepper influenced history. There was one great chapter on the current medicinal uses of pepper.
It was very interesting but not what I expected.
It was very interesting but not what I expected.
May 4, 2015
The narrative of the pepper trade seemed to drag without making the connections to modern day that I was looking for. The last third of the book was mare interesting to me. The description of the possible medicinal properties of pepper at the end of the book was interesting but seemed to bed added on as an after thought.
April 17, 2013
Pepper is probably my favorite spice, but I knew little of the history and the violence behind it. This was a fascinating book with larger-than-life characters and an exciting story. Marjorie Shaffer's history reads much like a sprawling novel. Try it; you'll like it
March 3, 2014
I was actually reading this book to help my son with a book report. The book starts strong and is very interesting but then begins to read too much like a history book and gets a little dry and boring. It finishes up strong with some of the current and future possible uses of pepper.
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March 3, 2014Packed with info on black pepper, mostly a historical perspective about the pepper trade and the Dutch and English East India trading companies. Interesting enough if you're after a history of trade in the Spice Islands with a focus on pepper.
June 27, 2015
Currently reading this... The author can make some broad over generalizations on some of the info in this book and kind of insists upon itself. But, it has some interesting facts on spices. on page 70/250
March 10, 2014
Everything you always wanted to know about pepper and then some.
September 12, 2016
I have newfound respect for pepper and what a crazy history it endured to make it onto my plate!
April 20, 2015
The facts are there, they're just not organized very well. It's as if it were written by a teenager with undiagnosed ADHD.
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