Health, wellness and the allure of spices in the Middle Ages

Abstract

Ethnopharmocological relevanceDuring the European Middle Ages aromatic products imported from Asia and Africa were credited with both preventive and curative medical properties. In addition spices provided an image of wellness and as they were expensive and had many uses in cuisine and fragrance, they functioned as prestige consumer goods. Materials and methodsThis is an effort to look historically at a social and cultural phenomenon for the period roughly A.D. 1200–1500. Sources of information about the demand for and uses of spices include lists of materia medica, medical treatises, cookbooks, religious writings, descriptions of banquets and court ceremonial and literary works showing what might be called aspirational lifestyles. ResultsIt is important to focus on the demand side of the spice trade rather than simply assuming a consistent demand and looking only at the supply (prices, routes, for example). ConclusionsThe demand for spices must be understood in terms of their attributed medical and wellness powers, but these in turn are related to the mysterious Eastern origins of spices that enhanced their image as elite consumer products and their association with spiritual as well as medical healing.