“It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” ― Maya Angelou
It’s eye-opening to peak in someone else’s spice cabinet. Some of their spices are familiar but others, not so much – with names I don’t know and can’t even pronounce. I wonder why there are so many choices in my friend’s cabinet?
“No one needs all this variety,” I think. I should give them my basic ten spices and they would be fine, even better with fewer choices to make. Right?
But then I enjoy a meal around their family table and I’m delighted with how the food is enhanced by the different spices. The conversation is even more enjoyable. Maybe the different flavors help.
I remember my mother’s look when I reached for the salt before I even tasted my food. That look taught me all I needed to know about “assuming.” She taught me to try something first, to get to know it, before I formed my opinions.
I’ve learned there are a whopping 8.7 million different spices in the world. The spice trade is both huge and ancient. It’s been around for over 5,000 years. Spice trading was a global industry even before we discovered the world was a globe, instead of being as flat as my kitchen table. Clearly there has always been a demand for more than my basic ten choices.
It’s the differences that add interest to my life, to my conversations, and to my spice cabinet. Differences make everything better, more flavorful, more diverse.
How about you, are you a “salt first – taste later” person like I was until my mother gave me her look? Can you give me examples of how you enjoy the diversity of different foods, cultures, people?
Tell me what you think it would be like to live in a community or country were we all looked the same, ate the same food, used the same spices.
The world’s spice cabinet has been trying to teach us this simple lesson for 5000 years.
As always, the conversation starts here.
“In the ordinary choices of every day we begin to change the direction of our lives.” – Eknath Easwaran
Epilogue
Enjoy going inside a shop in Old Delhi, India with me as a Delhi-ite explains spices to the fascinated tourist from the west.
Great title! I had to read this one.
Wade –
I’m glad you read the story. The world obviously needs more variety than my basic ten in their spice cabinet.
– Bruce
What an interesting subject. I start the morning with plain yogurt to which I add turmeric, black pepper, cinnamon, some greens in powder form and a little turbanado sugar. All stirred up it makes a pretty bad color but then I add organic strawberries and blueberries and some grain free granola. It isn’t pretty, but it is so good and I am thinking that the spices help with inflammation. I have read that black pepper intensifies the turmeric. Tonight I made chicken curry so I used curry powder. I have a daughter in law from Pakistan and she uses the… Read more »
Barbara –
What a great way to start your day. Most of your “recipe,” even the yogurt, were not items in my kitchen growing up. It is wonderful how we have moved beyond our boundaries to embrace different cultures. I hope we continue to do just that.
The Savory Spice Shop has now come up twice in recent conversation, so it’s obviously a place I need to visit. I’ll do just that and report back soon.
Thanks for being part of the conversation,
– Bruce
You are right about all the new things we have learned about in recent years. My breakfast in grammar school was Rice Krispies with banana and milk. We also had orange juice.
I’m happy we have been introduced to new food ideas.
Barbara –
Yes, that was my breakfast also. The OJ was in a small jelly glass.
“It’s the differences that add interest to my life, to my conversations, and to my spice cabinet. Differences make everything better, more flavorful, more diverse.”
Let’s keep moving forward.
– Bruce