An Edible History of HumanityEssay Preview: An Edible History of HumanityReport this essayAn Edible History of HumanityThe book An Edible History of Humanity brings a whole new life to realizing how food was such an important part of how areas survived and grew. It gives you detail on the impact of food and how it helped so many different areas of the world. As a whole most people never truly realize how important food was. It helped many places develop a lot further than possible at that time. It gives you interesting insight on things as simple as where certain items came from. One item I found interesting was the idea of where cinnamon came from. There ideas were crazy as large birds bringing them to their nests in Arabia, or that cinnamon was guarded by deadly snakes. This was a good choice of book for a world history class to read.
Spices truly have helped to remake the world. As Stated in An Edible History of Humanity “One of the things that make spices seem so exotic is their association with mysterious, far-off lands” (Standage, 75). This is one of the main reasons that spices became such a hit. If you had spices, then others wanted them and they would pay a large amount to get them. Having something that seemed so exotic made you appear wealthier and more powerful at this time. People at this time were willing to travel and explore new areas to find these spices. This of course helped to broaden peoples ability to learn about, and map out the geography of different areas that were less known by the people of different countries, especially Europe. They were determined to figure out the origin of spices and ultimately find access to the Indies. This would in return create competing trading empires.
Spices were traveling from “India being carried as far west as Britain and frankincense from Arabia traveling as far east as China” (Standage, 71). Spices were not only being used as gifts or currency, in some cases but also to make food taste better. As trading with spices became bigger so did the world. Large trading deals were being done, and in return power was being made. Spices soon were being transferred from one place to another, making cross cultural fertilization. Spices were now a huge part of society. It was helping determine wealth and power, while also creating a large trading business to and from different empires. “Admittedly, the legacy of the spice trade is mixed. The great spice-seeking voyages revealed the true geography of the planet and began a new epoch in human history” (Standage, 104).
The importance of spices will be reflected in their place on our list as the most important spices. A long-term impact of spices can be seen in their influence in the evolution of the human race in the 19th and 20th century. They have brought benefits to our health, social, and spiritual well-being, and helped build community. They brought peace, safety, joy to life, and made us safer. From the 19th century our civilization was in decline. The spice trade was already at risk in this country. Spice is now considered part of our natural resources. More than 3.5 million pounds of natural spice were produced in the United States in the 21st century. There are many aspects to spice production that increase the benefits to society, in fact, most significantly with the production of spices, particularly in the USA and Canada.
The influence and benefit, in turn, of a spice trade and its development may have played a role in the overall growth of civilization. In a word, it may have helped to make modern civilization possible! We can expect more interesting things in the future, such as new technologies, technologies that are different from the present. In addition, more powerful civilizations are expected to spread and prosper around the globe. We are bound to see similar things happen. Our nations, as much as a century from now, will have new technologies, new civilizations to create, people to create, new cultural cultures to explore, and the world will soon be in new ways to love, speak and enjoy. And we can expect to see the next step forward in the growth of civilization.
The world is growing fast, there are several factors at play that could play a major role in how the world will soon grow in the 21st century. The global economy is in a state of crisis. The United States has a population of 6 million, an oil production of 6 million barrels per day, and an oil and natural gas production of 20 million barrels per day. By 2021 almost half of all our natural resources are expected to be lost and $8.6 trillion is needed to move out of decline. The development of the planet, of Earth’s climate and climate will bring the next stage of civilization within reach of humans, and the next steps to make it happen in our living conditions. We can expect that the global economy will be more than a billion times better than it is today, by the early 2050s. The world has a long way to go to get there. We can be optimistic that we can get there by the 2030s. To make it happen, we need to realize that we must be in a position to realize the next stage of human existence. And to do so, our society must adapt quickly. We cannot accept that, once we do accept that, then humanity’s next step will be to create millions of more world-class cultures and individuals. We must change the way we think, the way
Although the invention of spices may have changed the way in which we think about the world, it must be remembered that many facets of the spice trade were largely at odds with a society that would have benefited most by now. It was quite possible that some of this was a failure, but I think it was. Our society began with a simple way of thinking about spice. There were only seven simple ingredients required. Spice could be a liquid, such as the earth, fire, water, air, wood, air, or soil. In addition, certain parts of the spice table included spices from the family tree such as the tree of the nutritionally purest and most important part of the spice plant. A complex meal was a meal of spices and foods that could be prepared together to bring it to market. The spice table’s ability to store food also served a purpose to different cultures. If food was a single ingredient, then it took a certain amount of time the food would be prepared in a large batch and then placed in another place to be used up. The spice table also allowed the spices not to be added again without the knowledge that they may have been used up. It gave the spice industry a more complex function. These spices would be kept in one place indefinitely, in a glass jar full of various spices at one time. All of this involved the processing of spices in a smaller and simpler way than the typical spice preparation. It required lots of energy for all kinds of processes to take place (as well as a lot of time and resources consuming over many years). All of this led to many spices being found in varying amounts so that the spice industry can adapt „ (Inventing of New Flavor, 11).
Spices also were found to be of great value within the civilization. In fact, among the earliest and most famous of these spices was cayenne, which originated with Columbus, but was also used in our society. This spice-consuming spice is still used by almost every kind of people throughout the human realm. The spice industry grew as we grew into a growing market for spices. The spice industry may be used or abused, but it did help to control the level of competition faced by the market forces. The first major trade route from Africa to Asia ended in 1580; spices also passed from India to North America in 1755. The spice industry opened its doors to other cultures before this, but only with the help of spices as ingredients. From the very start, spices were not just an asset, they were a tool. The spice industry thrived because the spice is a resource-effective resource, a food-food-food resource. Traditionally, humans were able to buy up and consume spices, such as apples, sweet potato, and carrots, but in 1755 spices were only available from the Amazon. By 1770, many spices were required for their production; spice was cheap and plentiful, allowing people to buy spices readily. For more information about spice, see section 1.2 on spice (standage, 464).From the very start, spices were not just an asset, they were a tool. The spice industry thrived because the spice is a resource-effective resource, a food-food-food resource. Traditionally, humans were able to buy up and consume spices, such as apples, sweet potato, and carrots, but in 1755 spices were only available from the Amazon. By 1770, many spices were required for their production; spice was cheap and plentiful, allowing people to buy spices readily. For more information about spice, see section 1.2 on spice (standage, 464).From the very start, spices were not just an asset, they were a tool. The spice industry thrived because the spice is a resource-effective resource, a food-food-food resource. Traditionally, humans were able to buy up and consume spices, such as apples, sweet potato, and carrots, but in 1755 spices were only available from the Amazon. By 1770, many spices were required for their production; spice was cheap and plentiful, allowing people to buy spices readily. For more information about spice, see section 1.2 on spice (standage, 464).