Pepper
Subtitle: a history of the world's most influential spice
By: Marjorie Shaffer
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2013
Language: eng
Number of pages: 302
ISBN-13: 9780312569891; 9781250021007
Subjects: HISTORY / Social History; Pepper (Spice); COOKING / History; History
Description: "The perfect companion to Mark Kurlansky's Salt: A World History, Pepper illuminates the rich history of pepper for a popular audience. Vivid and entertaining, it describes the part pepper played in bringing the Europeans, and later the Americans, to Asia and details the fascinating encounters they had there. As Mark Pendergrast, author of Uncommon Grounds, said, 'After reading Marjorie Shaffer's Pepper, you'll reconsider the significance of that grinder or shaker on your dining room table. The pursuit of this wizened berry with the bite changed history in ways you've never dreamed, involving extraordinary voyages, international trade, exotic locales, exploitation, brutality, disease, extinctions, and rebellions, and featuring a set of remarkable characters.' From the abundance of wildlife on the islands of the Indian Ocean, which the Europeans used as stepping stones to India and the East Indies, to colorful accounts of the sultan of Banda Aceh entertaining his European visitors with great banquets and elephant fights, this fascinating book reveals the often surprising story behind one of mankind's most common spices"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-284) and index.
Table of contents: title: Meet the pipers; title: The king of spices; title: Drugs and souls; title: Golden elephants; title: The British invade; title: The Dutch terror; title: U. S. pepper fortunes; title: An infinite number of seals; title: Medicinal pepper.