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Out of the East: Spices and the Medieval Imagination
The demand for spices in medieval Europe was extravagant and was reflected in the pursuit of fashion, the formation of taste, and the growth of luxury trade. It inspired geographical and commercial exploration ,as traders pursued such common spices as pepper and cinnamon and rarer aromatic products, including ambergris and musk. Ultimately, the spice quest led to imperial missions that were to change world history.
This engaging book explores the demand for spices: why were they so popular, and why so expensive? Paul Freedman surveys the history, geography, economics, and culinary tastes of the Middle Ages to uncover the surprisingly varied ways that spices were put to use--in elaborate medieval cuisine, in the treatment of disease, for the promotion of well-being, and to perfume important ceremonies of the Church. Spices became symbols of beauty, affluence, taste, and grace, Freedman shows, and their expense and fragrance drove the engines of commerce and conquest at the dawn of the modern era.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
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About the author
Paul Freedman
37 books114 followersPaul H. Freedman is the Chester D. Tripp Professor of History at Yale University. He specializes in medieval social history, the history of Spain, the study of medieval peasantry, and medieval cuisine.
His 1999 book Images of the Medieval Peasant won the Medieval Academy's prestigious Haskins Medal.
~~
Professor Freedman specializes in medieval social history, the history of Spain, comparative studies of the peasantry, trade in luxury products, and history of cuisine.
Freedman earned his BA at the University of California at Santa Cruz and an MLS from the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of California at Berkeley. He earned a Ph.D. in History at the same institution in 1978. His doctoral work focused on medieval Catalonia and how the bishop and canons interacted with the powerful and weak elements of lay society in Vic, north of Barcelona. This resulted in the publication of The Diocese of Vic: Tradition and Regeneration in Medieval Catalonia (1983).
Freedman taught for eighteen years at Vanderbilt University before joining the Yale faculty in 1997. At Vanderbilt, he focused on the history of Catalan peasantry, papal correspondence with Catalonia and a comparative history of European seigneurial regimes. He was awarded Vanderbilt’s Nordhaus Teaching Prize in 1989 and was the Robert Penn Warren Humanities Center Fellow there in 1991-1992. During that time he published his second book, Origins of Peasant Servitude in Medieval Catalonia (1991).
Since coming to Yale, Professor Freedman has served as Director of Undergraduate Studies in History, Director of the Medieval Studies Program and Chair of the History Department. He has offered graduate seminars on the social history of the Middle Ages, church, society and politics, and agrarian studies (as part of a team-taught course).
Freedman was a visiting fellow at the Max-Planck-Institut für Geschichte in Göttingen in 2000 and was directeur d’Études Associé at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris in 1995. He also published his third book, Images of the Medieval Peasant (1999) and two collections of essays: Church, Law and Society in Catalonia, 900-1500 and Assaigs d’historia de la pagesia catalana (writings on the history of the Catalan peasantry translated into Catalan).
More recently Freedman edited Food: The History of Taste, an illustrated collection of essays about food from prehistoric to contemporary times published by Thames & Hudson (London) and in the US by the University of California Press (2007). His book on the demand for spices in medieval Europe was published in 2008 by Yale University Press. It is entitled Out of the East: Spices and the Medieval Imagination. Freedman also edited two other collections with Caroline Walker Bynum, Last Things: Death and the Apocalypse in the Middle Ages (1999) and with Monique Bourin, Forms of Servitude in Northern and Central Europe (2005).
A Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America, Freedman is also a corresponding fellow of the Real Academia de Buenas Letras de Barcelona and of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans. He is a member of the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His honors include a 2008 cookbook award (reference and technical) from the International Association of Culinary Professionals (for Food: The History of Taste) and three awards for Images of the Medieval Peasant: the Haskins Medal of the Medieval Academy (2002), the 2001 Otto Gründler prize given by the Medieval Institute at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, and the Eugene Kayden Award in the Humanities given by the University of Colorado. He won the American Historical Association’s Premio del Rey Prize in 1992 (for The Origins of Peasant Servitude in Medieval Catalonia) and shared the Medieval Academy’s Van Courtlandt Elliott prize for the best first article on a medieval topic in 1981.
His 1999 book Images of the Medieval Peasant won the Medieval Academy's prestigious Haskins Medal.
~~
Professor Freedman specializes in medieval social history, the history of Spain, comparative studies of the peasantry, trade in luxury products, and history of cuisine.
Freedman earned his BA at the University of California at Santa Cruz and an MLS from the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of California at Berkeley. He earned a Ph.D. in History at the same institution in 1978. His doctoral work focused on medieval Catalonia and how the bishop and canons interacted with the powerful and weak elements of lay society in Vic, north of Barcelona. This resulted in the publication of The Diocese of Vic: Tradition and Regeneration in Medieval Catalonia (1983).
Freedman taught for eighteen years at Vanderbilt University before joining the Yale faculty in 1997. At Vanderbilt, he focused on the history of Catalan peasantry, papal correspondence with Catalonia and a comparative history of European seigneurial regimes. He was awarded Vanderbilt’s Nordhaus Teaching Prize in 1989 and was the Robert Penn Warren Humanities Center Fellow there in 1991-1992. During that time he published his second book, Origins of Peasant Servitude in Medieval Catalonia (1991).
Since coming to Yale, Professor Freedman has served as Director of Undergraduate Studies in History, Director of the Medieval Studies Program and Chair of the History Department. He has offered graduate seminars on the social history of the Middle Ages, church, society and politics, and agrarian studies (as part of a team-taught course).
Freedman was a visiting fellow at the Max-Planck-Institut für Geschichte in Göttingen in 2000 and was directeur d’Études Associé at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris in 1995. He also published his third book, Images of the Medieval Peasant (1999) and two collections of essays: Church, Law and Society in Catalonia, 900-1500 and Assaigs d’historia de la pagesia catalana (writings on the history of the Catalan peasantry translated into Catalan).
More recently Freedman edited Food: The History of Taste, an illustrated collection of essays about food from prehistoric to contemporary times published by Thames & Hudson (London) and in the US by the University of California Press (2007). His book on the demand for spices in medieval Europe was published in 2008 by Yale University Press. It is entitled Out of the East: Spices and the Medieval Imagination. Freedman also edited two other collections with Caroline Walker Bynum, Last Things: Death and the Apocalypse in the Middle Ages (1999) and with Monique Bourin, Forms of Servitude in Northern and Central Europe (2005).
A Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America, Freedman is also a corresponding fellow of the Real Academia de Buenas Letras de Barcelona and of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans. He is a member of the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His honors include a 2008 cookbook award (reference and technical) from the International Association of Culinary Professionals (for Food: The History of Taste) and three awards for Images of the Medieval Peasant: the Haskins Medal of the Medieval Academy (2002), the 2001 Otto Gründler prize given by the Medieval Institute at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, and the Eugene Kayden Award in the Humanities given by the University of Colorado. He won the American Historical Association’s Premio del Rey Prize in 1992 (for The Origins of Peasant Servitude in Medieval Catalonia) and shared the Medieval Academy’s Van Courtlandt Elliott prize for the best first article on a medieval topic in 1981.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
October 20, 2011
This was an excellent book, both well-written and very informative. Although it's a scholarly book, I think it is quite accessible to the lay-person (it helps that the endnotes are at the back, which makes the reading experience smoother -- this would annoy me if I were reading it for scholarly purposes, though); my public library has a copy, which indicates the press is also marketing it widely. I didn't have any trouble, and I'm no expert on the Middle Ages.
The book deals with several aspects of spices and the Middle Ages: Why and how were they used in foods and medicines? What did people know about their origins (both real and imagined)? What was it about spices that helped to prompt the great voyages of discovery? I think Freedman gives satisfactory and very interesting answers to all these questions, and I certainly learned a lot. I also learned about a number of spices I had never heard of before, which is always fun. Freeman makes enviably good use of primary texts, including cookbooks, account ledgers, and early maps, and I particularly enjoyed the little sidebars with extended quotations from some of the cookbooks. I don't think I'll be trying too many of the recipes, though.
In addition to all this, Out of the East answered my long-time question about spices: why is cardamom used in Swedish baking and Indian cooking, but nowhere in between? The answer has to do with the fact that Medieval European cooking was much closer to today's Indian or Middle Eastern cooking than today's European food, and would have included many dishes with sauces heavy with a wide variety of spices. This type of cooking began to fall out of favor in Europe around the time of the Renaissance, with the rise of traditional French cooking, and spices were mostly relegated to desserts or holiday foods.
The book deals with several aspects of spices and the Middle Ages: Why and how were they used in foods and medicines? What did people know about their origins (both real and imagined)? What was it about spices that helped to prompt the great voyages of discovery? I think Freedman gives satisfactory and very interesting answers to all these questions, and I certainly learned a lot. I also learned about a number of spices I had never heard of before, which is always fun. Freeman makes enviably good use of primary texts, including cookbooks, account ledgers, and early maps, and I particularly enjoyed the little sidebars with extended quotations from some of the cookbooks. I don't think I'll be trying too many of the recipes, though.
In addition to all this, Out of the East answered my long-time question about spices: why is cardamom used in Swedish baking and Indian cooking, but nowhere in between? The answer has to do with the fact that Medieval European cooking was much closer to today's Indian or Middle Eastern cooking than today's European food, and would have included many dishes with sauces heavy with a wide variety of spices. This type of cooking began to fall out of favor in Europe around the time of the Renaissance, with the rise of traditional French cooking, and spices were mostly relegated to desserts or holiday foods.
January 15, 2019
Pros: detailed examination of the subject matter, lots of minor details
Cons: could have used more maps
After the introduction the book has eight chapters and a conclusion. The chapters are:
Spices and Medieval Cuisine
Medicine: Spices as Drugs
The Odors of Paradise
Trade and Prices
Scarcity, Abundance, and Profit
“That Damned Pepper”: Spices and Moral Danger
Searching for the Realms of Spices
Finding the Realms of Spices: Portugal and Spain
The book is fantastic. It examines spices as food enhancements, medicine, trade items from exotic locales, and more. I loved that the author often made asides that filled in information of what was happening in other parts of the world so as to better understand Europe’s place in it.
I especially loved learning about the myths and legends surrounding India and Asia, and the snakes that guard the pepper plants and diamonds.
I find it fascinating the amount of spices used in the middle ages, especially in food, compared to today. Some of the combinations seem so bizarre I want to try them, just to see what they were like. Did they know something we’ve forgotten about spice blends?
The book has a few black and white illustrations and maps, but given the subject matter, more would have been appreciated.
If you’re interested in spices and/or the middle ages, this is a worthwhile read.
Cons: could have used more maps
After the introduction the book has eight chapters and a conclusion. The chapters are:
Spices and Medieval Cuisine
Medicine: Spices as Drugs
The Odors of Paradise
Trade and Prices
Scarcity, Abundance, and Profit
“That Damned Pepper”: Spices and Moral Danger
Searching for the Realms of Spices
Finding the Realms of Spices: Portugal and Spain
The book is fantastic. It examines spices as food enhancements, medicine, trade items from exotic locales, and more. I loved that the author often made asides that filled in information of what was happening in other parts of the world so as to better understand Europe’s place in it.
I especially loved learning about the myths and legends surrounding India and Asia, and the snakes that guard the pepper plants and diamonds.
I find it fascinating the amount of spices used in the middle ages, especially in food, compared to today. Some of the combinations seem so bizarre I want to try them, just to see what they were like. Did they know something we’ve forgotten about spice blends?
The book has a few black and white illustrations and maps, but given the subject matter, more would have been appreciated.
If you’re interested in spices and/or the middle ages, this is a worthwhile read.
February 4, 2017
Friedman's book is about the craving for spices in Europe during the Middle Ages, roughly from 1000 to 1500. Spices weren't really a necessity in life; in fact you could argue that they were the beginnings of a consumer society where people "have" to possess things they don't really need, but ones that they want.
But as Freedman puts it, "Desire, fashion, and taste move empires." You could further argue that the nearly simultaneous voyages to America by Columbus and Vasco da Gama's voyage around Africa to India, both motivated by a desire to capitalize on the huge profits to be made in the sale of spices, were among the most earth-changing forces the world has ever known. The book puts the history of spices into this historical context
The spices mentioned in this book are numerous (over 70 are mentioned in 14th century sources), but the main ones that came from the east were pepper varieties, , nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger. Saffron was also highly prized, but it came from plants that could be grown in southern Europe. More common spices such as salt and mustard also came from local sources in Europe. The rarer spices were valued by the nobility for several reasons - people liked the taste, of course, but they were also a sign of refinement and distinction. An added value is that many spcies were thought to have medicinal benefits. .
Because of their scarcity, they were expensive and this added to their appeal. Most came from the far east by land routes across Asia and Arabia, then by ship to Italian ports, and from there across Europe. Every time there was a new handling, there was a hefty price markup so by the time they reached consumers, they were worth their weight in gold, sometimes literally.
I found the last chapter particularly interesting as it discusses the rise and fall of spices. They were at their peak use in the 17th century France of Louis the 14th. They had begun to lose their appeal much earlier for most European societies. Once their sources were known and they became cheaper and more available, they were seen as less exotic and more prosaic. Medicine began to turn to different drugs from the New World (such as quinine and opiates). Tea, coffee, and tobacco were used more and contributed to a gradual, but not very well understood, change in food tastes. People no longer liked fiery and perfumed foods so much. More flavoring came from methods of cooking, herbs, the use of wine and diary products (cheese, cream, butter).
That's not to say that spices ever completely went of fashion or use. Spices are still widely used , but for emphasis and novelty, not for the heavy dosage (what we'd find overpowering today) of the Middle Ages.
But as Freedman puts it, "Desire, fashion, and taste move empires." You could further argue that the nearly simultaneous voyages to America by Columbus and Vasco da Gama's voyage around Africa to India, both motivated by a desire to capitalize on the huge profits to be made in the sale of spices, were among the most earth-changing forces the world has ever known. The book puts the history of spices into this historical context
The spices mentioned in this book are numerous (over 70 are mentioned in 14th century sources), but the main ones that came from the east were pepper varieties, , nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger. Saffron was also highly prized, but it came from plants that could be grown in southern Europe. More common spices such as salt and mustard also came from local sources in Europe. The rarer spices were valued by the nobility for several reasons - people liked the taste, of course, but they were also a sign of refinement and distinction. An added value is that many spcies were thought to have medicinal benefits. .
Because of their scarcity, they were expensive and this added to their appeal. Most came from the far east by land routes across Asia and Arabia, then by ship to Italian ports, and from there across Europe. Every time there was a new handling, there was a hefty price markup so by the time they reached consumers, they were worth their weight in gold, sometimes literally.
I found the last chapter particularly interesting as it discusses the rise and fall of spices. They were at their peak use in the 17th century France of Louis the 14th. They had begun to lose their appeal much earlier for most European societies. Once their sources were known and they became cheaper and more available, they were seen as less exotic and more prosaic. Medicine began to turn to different drugs from the New World (such as quinine and opiates). Tea, coffee, and tobacco were used more and contributed to a gradual, but not very well understood, change in food tastes. People no longer liked fiery and perfumed foods so much. More flavoring came from methods of cooking, herbs, the use of wine and diary products (cheese, cream, butter).
That's not to say that spices ever completely went of fashion or use. Spices are still widely used , but for emphasis and novelty, not for the heavy dosage (what we'd find overpowering today) of the Middle Ages.
December 9, 2018
Libro eccellente e definitivo sul tema (se si può dire una cosa del genere per un libro di storia). Qualche lungaggine e qualche ripetizione ma veramente completo. Dimostra inequivocabilmente che l'dea che le spezie fossero richieste in Europa per coprire il sapore non eccellente di cibi passati di freschezza o per conservarli è solo una leggenda 'metropolitana'. Come sempre, per quel che riguarda le azioni degli uomini le cose sono molto complesse: gusto, status, esotismo, magia, farmacopea, miti e speranze sono alla base del successo plurisecolare delle spezie. Sorpredente poi seguirne il tramonto per arrivare ai modesti barattoli che allignano nelle nostre cucine
August 5, 2023
An extremely informative historical account of the importance and role of spices in medieval European imagination, and how it drove the political, economic, and social actions across the continent and beyond. The details in this book are amazing and eye-opening, and the author takes you on a tour to understand why and how the spices, in a way, changed the world.
June 2, 2012
I've often wondered what it was about spices that caused men to risk life an climb in pursuit of them. Yes spiced food is nice and all, but I really didn't think that was enough. Thanks to Paul Freedman I know have a good understanding of what spices meant to people in the middle ages--they were far more than just food flavorings. Spices, especially exotic ones, were also used in religious ceremonies, as medicines, health aids, and as a display of wealth and status. This is a thorough examination, well-written and full of insight. I recommend it for fans of food history, medieval history and even the history of trade and capitalism.
May 19, 2016
Fascinating look at the role of spice in Medieval European culture -- I only read the sections on food and medicine. The absolute craziest bit of trivia you should come away with is that "momie" or "mumia" was a valued medical spice -- and the best momie came from Egypt. It was, as you probably have guessed... ground-up-mummy. Yummy!
January 29, 2012
Wheeeeee! A fabulous romp through spices and history, with much amusing quotation of primary sources (and the primary sources are of a variety of types, as well, which is always fun, and makes me feel confident that the author has, in fact, done his own research).
December 30, 2009
I loved this book - I couldn't put it down. Amazing to think that cloves and nutmeg drove empires to power and downfall. Neat!
February 6, 2022
ini bukan review, tapi sekadar catatan personal sehabis baca. tapi juga gak baca habis...
tapi buku ini lucu,
ia menggunakan komentar-komentar orang eropa di abad ke-17 tentang berjenis-jenis masakan yang memakai atau tidak memakai rempah-rempah tropik asia. ada dikutip komentar orang italia, prancis, german, spanyol, polandia... mengenai apa dampak kayu manis bila dicemplungin dalam sup. apa efeknya bila kunyit dilibatkan dalam masakan tradisional mereka. dan seterusnya...
melalui cara ini maka bisa dibayangkan betapa dalamnya rempah-rempah tropik asia telah merasuk ke meja makan dan bahkan mempengaruhi lidah dan selera makan orang eropa.
banyak buku sejarah menjelaskan alasan orang eropa menjajah asia adalah karena perdagangan rempah. tapi jarang yang memasuki area studi ini dari meja makan orang eropa sendiri.
di meja makan orang eropa di masa abad pertengahan, sudah berlangsung pertengkaran, apakah rempah asia itu perlu atau tidak masuk ke dalam khasanah kuliner mereka.
penjajahan atas asia adalah konsekuensi berikut dari pertengkaran dari dapur dan meja makan itu.
tapi buku ini lucu,
ia menggunakan komentar-komentar orang eropa di abad ke-17 tentang berjenis-jenis masakan yang memakai atau tidak memakai rempah-rempah tropik asia. ada dikutip komentar orang italia, prancis, german, spanyol, polandia... mengenai apa dampak kayu manis bila dicemplungin dalam sup. apa efeknya bila kunyit dilibatkan dalam masakan tradisional mereka. dan seterusnya...
melalui cara ini maka bisa dibayangkan betapa dalamnya rempah-rempah tropik asia telah merasuk ke meja makan dan bahkan mempengaruhi lidah dan selera makan orang eropa.
banyak buku sejarah menjelaskan alasan orang eropa menjajah asia adalah karena perdagangan rempah. tapi jarang yang memasuki area studi ini dari meja makan orang eropa sendiri.
di meja makan orang eropa di masa abad pertengahan, sudah berlangsung pertengkaran, apakah rempah asia itu perlu atau tidak masuk ke dalam khasanah kuliner mereka.
penjajahan atas asia adalah konsekuensi berikut dari pertengkaran dari dapur dan meja makan itu.
February 14, 2018
A tantalizing if short look at the way desire and fascination can shape world-historical events. Everyone knows that Columbus and de Gama were motivated by a search for the source of spices, but no one ever seems to ask why spices were such a big deal, anyways. Freedman makes a compelling case that they were a mix of medicine, status symbol, and genuine delight that had a much more central role in European culture and cuisine than they do today, now that they are no longer scarce or special. It was precisely because they were unusual and exotic that a market existed large enough to bring them into the realm of the familiar, inadvertently dragging the entire world into the European-centered system. Medieval cuisine might not "explain" why colonialism happened, but the fact that arbitrary personal tastes could play a role in shaping the whole course of the future is a powerful idea to consider.
May 9, 2025
Really interesting survey of the Middle Age attitude toward spices and how that impacted the culture and the European voyages of discovery. Covers all the relevant angles for their consumption--culinary, religious, medicinal, prestige--and ties it all into the overall cultural changes going on in Europe.
February 6, 2017
While this was dry at times, for the most part it held my interest especially the chapters on Medieval recipes and the final chapter analyzing the decline of the spice trade. It's fascinating how food fashion transformed the world.
April 18, 2023
Could not reasonably give less than 5: accessible, exhaustive, plausible speculation, fascinating subject matter (esp sociocultural for me). Only disappointment is the cover, with it’s strong “self-published” vibe.
November 7, 2020
This eminently readable book explains the mystique of spice in medieval Europe; it is a joy to read about how intertwined the story of spice is with the hopes, aspirations, and realities of the era.
February 14, 2023
For anyone interested in history of the Medieval era this is a useful addition. It's also interesting to read for people who like to cook, and in particular if you like the cuisine from the Maghreb.
May 11, 2023
3.5
l'unica cosa che ho imparato leggendo questo libro è che è colpa dei francesi se la cucina europea usa così poche spezie adesso
l'unica cosa che ho imparato leggendo questo libro è che è colpa dei francesi se la cucina europea usa così poche spezie adesso
June 16, 2024
This, along with Nathaniel's nutmeg, is a wonderful eye opener about how it was the spice islands and not necessarily India which led to colonization of India in the first place!
March 30, 2025
Re-read ** 2025
June 29, 2025
Other food hist book, not as intriguing to me as FFN but had equally important/insightful info
September 29, 2025
School has begun 😭
November 14, 2016
The book spend half its time talking about history and ancient history. The book talks about the middle age folks and how they used spices for all kinds of things. No science behind it just applause and cultural bias which lead to unusual claims of what a particular spice could do.
Because the book does not talk about the current conditions of spice growth and what countries export particular spices it was a mostly uninteresting book. No science behind the aromas or tastes of spices, no debunking of the outrageous claims of spices, just this unusual narration about what monks did with it in the 1200s or what kings and queens did with the spices in their recipes in the 13th and 14th century. Totally useless information.
Because the book does not talk about the current conditions of spice growth and what countries export particular spices it was a mostly uninteresting book. No science behind the aromas or tastes of spices, no debunking of the outrageous claims of spices, just this unusual narration about what monks did with it in the 1200s or what kings and queens did with the spices in their recipes in the 13th and 14th century. Totally useless information.
February 24, 2025
Freedman traces the history of the spice trade, mostly from the east, to Europe from pre-Roman times until the late 17th century, a period in which spices were often used in excessive quantities to disguise spoilage and to exhibit wealth. The book covers the uses of spices as medicines at a time when pharmacology was little else, the litergical use of spices, the battles fought over access to spice-growing lands, the trade routes and the cultivation of spices in colonies in the new world and how the excessive use of spices came to an end in the late 17th century when French tastes switched to better cooked foods and thicker sauces over dishes relying on excessive spices. An interesting read for those with culinary interests.
Read
September 30, 2009So the idea that spices were popular in the middle ages because they covered the taste of bad meat is something of an urban legend. Those who were rich enough to afford spices could also afford fresh meat. And spices aren't as good at preservation as salt and smoke, so the poor did waste money on them. Highly spiced food was popular throughout Europe and Asia from at least the Roman Empire up to the sixteenth century, when French cuisine began to focus on the flavor of the base ingredients, and delicacies from the New World (like coffee, chocolate) started to supplant spices at the tables of the elite.
Side note: this book came to me via Link+ from the Asuza Pacific University library.
Side note: this book came to me via Link+ from the Asuza Pacific University library.
December 10, 2010
This book was recommended to me by a friend who's a medieval historian. It was remarkably similar to Jack Turner's "Spice: The History of a Temptation." I enjoyed it nonetheless, and thought it was an interesting historical perspective on the uses and economics of spices, especially in the Middle Ages and the Age of Discovery.
August 23, 2014
I found the sections on spice use most interesting. So many spices in the diet! But the spice mummy...ugh! The procurement and exploration for spices was not as interesting, particularly in the religious motivations for exploration, but that may be because some elements seemed repetitive.
February 26, 2012
Exhaustive, and exhausting.
October 23, 2010
highly interesting, readable.
August 3, 2018
Fascinating book!
August 26, 2011
An intereseting perspective on European use of spices during the middle ages. Also covers expansionism and the impetus for exploration through the lens of the spice trade.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews