Pepper, for modern people is nothing more than an ordinary condiment, but in ancient times it was an extremely precious thing. Not only was it expensive, but it was also given as a gift to the powerful, and was even given to officials as a gift. It is surprising that this small spice had such a lofty status in ancient times. What exactly was the identity of pepper in ancient times? And how did it affect ancient societies? Let's walk into the long river of history together and explore the past and present life of pepper.
Crossing the ocean and opening the spice road
Since ancient times, spices have been the link between Eastern and Western civilizations. In the 2nd century BC, the ancient Romans had already begun importing spices such as pepper, cinnamon, and cloves from Asia. However, the long and rugged route that began in the Western Regions of China and traverses Asia and Africa, combined with the trade of middlemen, made spices considered a rare treasure in ancient Rome that was more expensive than gold.
In 60 BC, Roman generals made an expedition to the Arabian Peninsula in an attempt to plunder spices, but ultimately fell short. Since then, the number of spices entering Rome has plummeted, making spices a symbol of wealth and status for the upper classes of ancient Rome. By the 2nd century C.E., the situation had changed. At that time, the Roman Empire had already established trade with southern China, which allowed spices to enter Rome by sea.
However, Europe has not had direct control over where spices come from, making spices still an expensive commodity. This remained the case until the 15th century, when the Portuguese Vasco da Gama bypassed the Cape of Good Hope in 1498 and found a sea route to India, thus opening the door to direct access to spices in Europe. Vasco da Gama's discovery marked the beginning of Europe's dominance in the spice trade and the beginning of the subsequent European Age of Discovery.
At the same time, Zheng He during the Ming Dynasty made seven trips to the West, demonstrating the brilliant achievements of Chinese civilization to the outside world. In this process, spices such as pepper also entered China with the ship, further promoting the spread of spices in China. With the spread of Marco Polo's travels and da Gama's voyage, spices, an expensive "gold", not only triggered a trade boom between the East and the West, but also became the fuse for the rise of capitalism, opening a new chapter in the history of human civilization.
A royal tribute, a court treasure
In ancient China, pepper was once an exclusive tribute and court treasure. As early as the Han Dynasty, pepper was introduced to Middle-earth. The Book of the Continuation of the Han Dynasty recorded: "Tianzhu produced stone honey, pepper, and black salt. "This is the first time that pepper has appeared in Chinese historical records.
In the Sui and Tang dynasties, the preciousness of pepper can be seen. According to the Book of the Old Tang Dynasty, in the fourteenth year of Zhenguan (640), the envoy of the king of Persia came to the Tang Dynasty and offered 14,000 catties of pepper. After receiving it, the prime minister at that time, Hu Awan, was very happy and full of praise: "Persia Yaosui, Chongque Fengguan, this thing is the most precious." It can be seen that in the Tang Dynasty, pepper has become an overseas treasure.
During the same period, Yuan Zai, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, embezzled and accepted bribes and had his family property confiscated. As a result, as much as 800 stone of pepper was found in his home, which is equivalent to more than 60 tons of weight today. This may seem unimaginable today, but in fact pepper was extremely expensive at the time, and was seen as a symbol of wealth, comparable in value to gold and silver.
In the Song and Yuan dynasties, the status of pepper as a tribute and gift became even more brilliant. According to the record of the "Song Hui Yao Manuscript", in the fourth year of Jingde (1007), the Buddha Kingdom paid tribute to the Song Dynasty "80,000 catties of frankincense, 10,000 catties of pepper, and 40 catties of ivory". This move was obviously to curry favor with the Song court in order to obtain trade benefits.
In addition to being a tribute, pepper was also widely used in the imperial court. According to the record of "Menglianglu", there was a palace dish called "pepper meat" during the Song Dynasty Huizong, and the method was "boiled mutton first, and then boiled with pepper, wine and salt". It can be seen that pepper was used as a cooking condiment in the imperial court at that time.
In the Ming Dynasty, pepper was not only a tribute and a royal meal, but also a reward for meritorious officials by the emperor. According to the "History of the Ming Dynasty", in the fourteenth year of Yongle, Zhu Di gave the king of Shu two hundred taels of gold, one thousand taels of platinum, and an additional "thousand catties of pepper". There are many similar records, such as Akihito Zong gave Xia Yuanji "twenty stones of imperial rice and a thousand catties of pepper" and so on. It can be seen that pepper has become a special form of royal reward in the Ming Dynasty.
It can be seen that since the Han Dynasty, pepper has gradually gained a very high status in China's upper society, not only becoming a foreign tribute, a court delicacy, but also a reward for the emperor to reward the ministers, which can be described as a flower in the ten thousand flowers. The reason why pepper is highly regarded is mainly because of its remote origin, difficult transportation, and high price, which became a symbol of power under scarce resources, and was an important way for ancient Eastern dynasties to show their national power.
The trade routes were prosperous, and the common people were delicious
With the flourishing of the Maritime Silk Road and the budding of capitalism in China, pepper began to gradually enter the lives of ordinary people.
As early as the Song and Yuan dynasties, with the development of Sino-foreign trade, pepper has become one of the main commodities at that time. During the Southern Song Dynasty, coastal cities such as Quanzhou became important international ports, from which merchants from all over the world imported and exported goods. According to the Quanzhou Prefecture Chronicle, Quanzhou's export commodities include spices such as "wood, cloves, and pepper", which shows that pepper has become an important trade commodity at that time.
In the Ming Dynasty, with Zheng He's voyage to the West, a large number of foreign spices were brought back to China. At the same time, overseas trade was gradually opened up by the authorities. During the Yongle period, Zheng He's widow Wang Jue advocated expanding the market and opening up private trade ships. Later, wealthy merchants from Fujian and Guangdong invested in the construction of giant ships and voyages, which further promoted the development of spice trade.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, groups of private merchant ships traveled across the ocean to transport spices back to China in a steady stream. The famous traveler Xu Xiake mentioned the scene of the spice trade many times in his "Travels": "The sea ships of Guangdong often crossed to Asia, Persia and Arab countries, traded back and forth, and imported incense and medicines. ＂
A large number of spices poured into the country, and their prices began to drop sharply, gradually entering the homes of ordinary people. "Zheng Zhongcheng's Miscellaneous Works" once recorded: "In the Ming season, pepper was planted in China, Japan, Vietnam, Ryukyu Island and other places. The price of pepper has fallen, and it can be eaten at home. ＂
Once pepper entered civilian life, it was widely used in the cooking of various foods. Yuan Mei, a famous gourmand of the Qing Dynasty, recorded in detail various popular recipes using pepper in his food notebook "Suiyuan Food List", such as "pepper and salt sauce meat" and "pepper and salt sauce chicken", which shows that pepper has become a common seasoning for ordinary home cooking.
In addition to home-cooked dishes, pepper is also widely used in street food. At that time, snacks such as "fried fire" and "sesame crispy", which were unique to the north, all used pepper as the main spice. The special snacks of some cities in the south, such as the "twist cake" in Guangdong and the "iron plate sugar cake" in Fujian, are also inseparable from the decoration of pepper.
Pepper is not only a cooking seasoning, but also an extremely precious herb in the field of traditional Chinese medicine. According to the Qing Dynasty medical classic "Compendium of Materia Medica", pepper "is used in food and food, and is also necessary for medicine". Pepper was used to treat wind, cold, abdominal pain, vomiting and rebellion, and was widely used in the medical formula at that time.
It can be seen that with the prosperity of trade routes and the development of spice trade, pepper has gradually evolved from an expensive and rare court spice to an indispensable condiment in the lives of ordinary people, and has become an important part of gourmet delicacies and medicines, and its influence on ancient society is far-reaching and extensive.
Trade battles, wars
Although the spice trade brought the spread of gastronomic culture to ancient society, it also triggered a series of colonial wars and wrestling between countries, which became the fuse that ignited the flames of war.
As early as the 15th century, the Portuguese began to colonize the spice producing areas. In 1498, Vasco da Gama bypassed the Cape of Good Hope and found a sea route to India, which paved the way for Europeans to control the spice trade. In 1505, Portugal established its first trading post in India. By 1510, they had captured the Strait of Malacca, thus controlling the sea lanes to Southeast Asia.
Subsequently, Portugal began to build forts in Malacca, Indonesian Islands and other places, and implemented military plunder and trade monopoly. Any foreign businessman who tries to engage in the spice trade will be severely suppressed and cracked down.
In the face of Portuguese hegemony, countries such as Spain and the Netherlands began to eye. In 1602, the Dutch East India Company was founded, marking the official entry of the Netherlands into the colonial war. In 1619, the Dutch captured the Indonesian island of Redang, followed by the island of Sumatra, which occupied the commanding heights. By 1640, the Dutch had completely excluded the Portuguese and gained control of the spice trade.
In order to consolidate their dominance in Southeast Asia, the Dutch pursued a series of brutal policies. They have implemented a policy of "exploding orphans" in the Indonesian archipelago, which means uprooting spice trees and planting them on only a few islands. In 1621, the Dutch burned about 930,000 spice trees on the Indonesian islands. Any islander who planted spice trees was hanged or beheaded.
With the advent of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, the spice trade led to a war between Britain and the Netherlands. In 1758, the British launched a war against Java and Sumatra in order to combat the Dutch monopoly in Indonesia. Since then, Britain and the Netherlands have waged a protracted struggle in various colonies, and a lot of manpower and material resources have been invested in the competition for the spice trade in Southeast Asia.
In addition to the rivalry between the European powers, the spice war also spread to China. In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the British East India Company adopted a series of repressive measures in order to suppress the development of China's spice trade. In 1756, the British established new rules within the guilds in Canton that were unfavorable to Chinese merchants in order to curb trade between China and foreign countries. It was not until 1842 that the spice controversy eventually led to the outbreak of the First Opium War.
It can be seen that the impact of the spice trade on ancient societies was multifaceted. On the one hand, it promotes the exchange and collision of Eastern and Western civilizations; On the other hand, it also sparked wars between colonizers, leading to endless bloodshed and sacrifice. As a scarce resource, spices became the focus of competition among various countries, which greatly exacerbated the contradictions and turmoil of the international community at that time.
Spread globally, and the flavor gradually spreads
With the development of modern transportation and the intensification of globalization, pepper began to spread rapidly to all parts of the world in the late 19th century and became a condiment shared by the whole world.
As early as the middle of the 19th century, the main production areas of pepper were concentrated in the tropical regions of Southeast Asia, such as Malaysia, Indonesia and other countries. But with the rise of international trade, countries began to experiment with growing pepper locally. In 1870, India began cultivating pepper on a large scale in places like Karnataka and Kerala, which soon overtook Malaysia as the world's largest pepper exporter.
In the 20th century, more countries joined the ranks of pepper cultivation. In the 20s of the 20th century, Vietnam began to develop pepper cultivation in the central region, and today it is the second largest exporter after India. In addition to Asian countries, Latin America is also an important pepper producing region, such as Brazil and Mexico, and the climate is ideal for growing spice crops due to its tropical location.
As the production area of pepper continues to expand, so does its supply. In 1960, global pepper production was only about 100,000 tons. By 2019, the figure had exceeded 600,000 tons. Large-scale production has led to a continuous decline in the price of pepper, which has further boosted its popularity and spread around the world.
In addition to the expansion of planting areas, modern trade methods and fast transportation methods are also important reasons for pepper to go global. Beginning in the mid-19th century, Pepper began to use railways and ships for long-distance transportation, freeing itself from the limitations of relying on horse teams and sailing ships in the past. In the late 20th century, the popularity of air transport made it possible to transport spices around the world in the shortest possible time.
In the 21st century, the rise of the Internet and e-commerce has pushed the spice trade to a new level. F&B businesses and individual consumers around the world can easily order spice products from all over the world online. The development of multiple online and offline sales channels has made pepper and other spices flow more unimpeded to every corner of the world.
With the global spread of pepper, it has also deeply influenced and penetrated the food culture of various countries. In Western countries, pepper is an indispensable condiment in European and American cuisine, and its use is unprecedented. In India and Southeast Asia, pepper has been a key spice in specialty dishes since ancient times. In China, pepper also plays an important role in local cuisines such as Sichuan and Hunan cuisines.
Not only in restaurants, pepper is a must-have condiment in ordinary households. From simple black pepper to a variety of processing forms such as powdered and salted, pepper is widely used in cooking. When people cook at home, they often freely add the right amount of pepper according to their personal tastes to create a unique flavor.
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It can be seen that after centuries of evolution, pepper has evolved from an expensive court spice to a ubiquitous civilian condiment today, and is an indispensable and important part of global gastronomic culture. Although pepper is no longer a rare treasure, it has left a strong and far-reaching mark in the history of human food culture, witnessing great changes in the lifestyles of people around the world.