By Bob Tedder • Raised on meat and taters and, if the truth be known, more taters than meat, I have never been accused of being an epicure. Fortunately, my early association with Mt. Gilead’s tiny little library – Mrs. Safrit’s domain down beside Parker’s Hardware – molded in me a voracious epicuriosity. So to extend (if not weary) the metaphor, when the menu lists as a main course “Tastes of Paradise: A Social History of Spices, Stimulants, and Intoxicants,” I place the order without hesitation. Duly consumed, this book is indeed a little taste of historical paradise.
Author Wolfgang Schivelbusch examines spices, coffee, chocolate, tobacco, beer, liquor and opium for their physiological effects, their impact on society and the history of mankind as a whole.
Most of us are familiar with Europe’s medieval search and taste for what today are easily located on the spice aisle of any grocery outlet. It is, however, difficult to realize the black pepper one takes for granted could ever have replaced gold as a medium of exchange. Even stranger, an over-peppered dish, while searing a guest’s palate, would also cause the discomfited diner to elevate their respect for such a gracious host. Such small details of historical lore coupled with numerous period paintings and lithographs give the book an appeal as universal as its subjects.
In that just under one-third of the book is devoted to coffee ponder these questions while browsing the Speckled Paw’s copy of Schivelbusch’s work: When and why did coffee replace beer as a standard breakfast drink? Why is coffee a Protestant drink and chocolate a Catholic drink? What country’s relationship with coffee had serious political and economic concerns?
The author poses and thankfully answers many such questions throughout the course of the book. He does so in an informative, narrative style as easily consumed as a serving of coffee, tea, beer … well, you get the idea. Now savor this work at your local coffee emporium if for no other reason than the sheer joy of discovering that London circa 1700 had 3,000 coffee houses – one per 200 residents.