Name Indian Food and a Short History of Spices By Vickie Chao When it comes to Indian food, the first thing that rushes to most people's minds is probably a simple, five-letter word -curry. Curry is thought to have derived from a Tamil word called "kari." Tamil is a language spoken by the Dravidian people of southern India and northern Sri Lanka. In Tamil, kari means sauce. It is basically a mixture of spices and herbs. This mixture (called curry powder) can change its ingredients from one region to another. It can be mild. Or it can be spicy. Regardless of what goes into the concoction, there is one thing for sure. When cooked with rice, meat, fish, or vegetables, curry powder gives the dish a unique, savory taste. It makes some of us want to eat more! Of course, Indian cuisine is more than just curry. Roti (a round, flat unleavened bread), dosa (a thin, folded pancake), tandoori chicken (marinated chicken chunks skewered and grilled in a type of clay oven called tandoor), and biryani (flavored, orange-colored rice cooked with meat or vegetables) are all popular items that we can find in almost every Indian restaurant. What the four courses, along with the rest of Indian dishes, have in common is that they owe their flavors entirely to a wide variety of spices, such as cumin, coriander seeds, pepper, cloves, and turmeric. Using spices in cooking has had a long history, dating as far back as 52,000 years ago. Though we cannot know for sure how primitive men came across this practice, it is quite possible that their discovery was by chance. Ever since then, spices have played a vital role in our diet. In earlier centuries, spices were considered very valuable commodities. Thus, whoever was involved in trading seasonings was destined to be a rich man. This extremely lucrative business was long dominated by the Arabs who transported their merchandise to Europe via Egypt. To protect their profits, the Arabs were always very vague about where they got their supplies. When asked, they would invent crazy stories to convince the listeners that they had to go through a lot of dangers to obtain the spices they were selling. They never told them that they got their goods from India, China, the Spice Islands (present-day the Maluku or Molluca Islands of Indonesia), and other nearby regions. As spices were very hard to come by in Europe at the time, the Arabs charged a lot of money for their products. During the Middle Ages, a pound of ginger was worth the price of a sheep, and a pound of mace was equivalent to the price of three sheep or half cow. Pepper was the crown jewel of all spices. It was meted out peppercorn by peppercorn! The Arabs' monopoly on spices eventually came to an end after a young Venetian merchant named Marco Polo (1254 -1324) traveled to China with his father and uncle. Along the way, the trio passed through many countries (including India and Indonesia) and saw where spices grew. When they later returned to Italy, Marco Polo spilled out the Arabs' long-held secret in his famous travelogue, Il Milione. His direct knowledge on Asia inspired European rulers to increase their trades with the nations in the Far East. Once they established their own routes, they no longer needed to rely on the Arabs as their middlemen. They now could go straight to the source and secure their own spices! Interestingly, it was against this historical backdrop of trying to get spices that Christopher Columbus decided to set sail from Spain in 1492. For his expedition, he chose India, the unofficial spice capital of the world, as his final destination. Instead of traveling east as everybody else was doing at the time, he was convinced that he could get to this subcontinent by heading west, too. After spending about 70 days at sea, he finally reached land. He thought that he arrived in India. He had no idea that the land where he docked was actually America. Though Columbus never brought back pepper, cumin, cardamom, or other spices commonly traded in India, he was credited nonetheless for introducing the Caribbean's allspice to Europe. Today, spices no longer cost a fortune, as a quick tour in any supermarket can attest. While they seem to have lost their glory and material value, they would never, however, lose their foothold in a kitchen, especially an Indian one!Name Indian Food and a Short History of Spices Questions 1. Curry powder is the only type of spice that Indians use in their cooking. A. False B. True 2. Which of the following spices was NOT originally from India? A. Coriander seeds B. Cumin C. Allspice D. Pepper 3. What is roti? A. A yogurt drink B. A spicy lentil and tomato soup C. A thin, folded pancake D. A round, flat unleavened bread 4. Who were the major players in spice trading during the Middle Ages? A. The Egyptians B. The Arabs C. The Indians D. The Chinese 5. Which of the following about curry powder is correct? A. Christopher Columbus discovered it during his voyage to India. B. It is a mixture of numerous spices and herbs. C. It has the same mild taste all across India. D. All of the above 6. What spice did Christopher Columbus bring back to Europe? A. Allspice B. Saffron C. Pepper D. Vanilla 7. When did humans begin to use spices in their cooking? A. About 38,000 years ago B. About 52,000 years ago C. About 1,000,000 years ago D. About 20,000 years ago 8. Before Christopher Columbus discovered America, from where did Europeans get their spices? A. Greenland B. Australia C. India D. South Africa What is the most amazing dining experience you ever had? Describe what happened.Name What is your favorite food? Describe what it looks and tastes like, and explain why you chose it.