For centuries, Europeans were willing to risk their lives for the spices of the Indonesian archipelago. Hundreds of crew members in Vasco da Gama’s 1498 expedition died during the journey. Hugh Willoughby and his crew froze to death around 1554 while attempting to find a shortcut through the Arctic to reach the spice islands of Southeast Asia.
In his book Spice: The History of a Temptation (2004), Jack Turner writes that in pursuit of spices, fortunes were risked, empires were built and destroyed, and even new worlds were discovered.
Yet today, even the most prestigious European cuisines are known for their minimal use of spices. What exactly happened?
When Spices Meant Everything
To understand this paradox, we need to return to the Middle Ages. In Europe’s feudal social structure, owning spices was a marker of status.
Spices were added to wine, burned like incense, applied to the skin, and even believed to have medicinal properties. Black pepper was thought to cure coughs and asthma, cinnamon to treat fever, nutmeg to relieve bloating, and ginger was believed to act as an aphrodisiac.
During recurring outbreaks of the Black Death in Europe, people burned ambergris—a waxy substance from whale intestines—in an attempt to ward off disease.
Historian JJ Rizal describes this as a form of early public relations, a communication strategy that used fiction and mythology to create desire.
That desire helped drive the Age of Exploration. It pushed Christopher Columbus to sail west and Vasco da Gama to circumnavigate Africa, all in pursuit of one goal: to bypass Arab and Chinese intermediaries so Europe could directly control the spice trade.
The intensity of this demand is reflected in the household records of the Duke of Buckingham in 15th-century England, which show a daily consumption of around two pounds (approximately 900 grams) of spices, mainly pepper and ginger.
But... People Stopped Using Spices
The great irony began when Europe finally gained control of the spice sources. Once spices flooded the market from colonial territories, prices collapsed. What was once exclusive became commonplace, and the middle class could now afford them.
Within about 50 years of successful cultivation and widespread availability, the value of spices dropped dramatically. This shift pushed the Dutch to focus on exploiting other commodities, such as sugar and tea.
European elites no longer wanted to be associated with tastes that had become widely accessible. A new culinary aesthetic emerged: food should taste like itself.
Meat should taste like meat. Any seasoning should only enhance its natural flavor, not overpower it. Recipes in 18th-century English cookbooks, once filled with strong doses of mace, cloves, and nutmeg, gradually disappeared from elite kitchens.
This shift began in France in the mid-17th century. Historian Paul Freedman of Yale compares it to changes in fashion trends.
In one era, the more lace and jewelry, the more fashionable one appeared. Then suddenly, someone declared that a simple black dress with a pearl necklace was far more elegant. In the same way, using excessive spices came to be seen as a sign of poor taste.
A Shift in Food Philosophy
A deeper philosophical shift also played a role. In earlier periods, both Europe and India embraced the idea of bodily balance, that internal energies influenced health and mood, and food could restore equilibrium.
“Hot” spices like ginger were believed to energize sluggish individuals, while “cooling” foods were suited for those considered overly impulsive. However, with the rise of Protestantism, this framework was gradually replaced.
A new belief emerged: that healthy digestion depended on fresh vegetables and simple herbs that were easier for the body to process.
Within this new perspective, spices began to lose their medicinal value.
A moral dimension also came into play. Sylvester Graham, an American Presbyterian minister in the 1830s, openly opposed the use of spices. He argued that they were overly stimulating and could corrupt the purity of the soul.
This mindset continued to evolve and can still be seen today in modern “clean eating” movements, which often associate plain food with both physical health and moral purity.
A Legacy That Endures
The influence of spices has not entirely disappeared from Western cuisine. Barbecue sauces, with their layered sweet, sour, and spiced flavors, are often seen as a surviving legacy of medieval cooking styles.
Worcestershire sauce, first introduced in 1830 and still widely used today, contains ingredients such as cloves and tamarind.
Haggis, the national dish of Scotland, includes coriander seeds, mace, and nutmeg. Even the American cookbook The Virginia Housewife, first published in 1824, featured curry recipes for catfish, veal, and roasted goat.
The most striking example can be found in Britain. After centuries of colonizing India, Britain ultimately embraced curry itself. In 2001, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook famously declared chicken tikka masala, a British adaptation of North Indian curry, as the country’s national dish.
