Food for Thought

I was flipping through the current issue of the food magazine Saveur titled The Market Issue the other night before going to bed, which featured articles about food from around the world. As I was reading, a two-page spread of the world showing all of the wide world markets caught my eye. This article correlated to chapter 8, this week’s reading assignment on commerce and its affect on the world’s culture in the first century. There was a striking similarity between what I had read on the sea routes in India, Southeast Asia, Africa and the Americas, and the areas featured on the map in the magazine. “Pretty intriguing,” I told my husband. “The areas of this map, are basically the same areas highlighted in the chapter I had just read.” It is incredible to see how much today the same commercial centers exist and continue to flourish as they did in the first century. The Saveur article talks about the 30 top destinations, which are the greatest markets in the world based on size, and types of products available at these various markets. India, the east coast of Africa, Southeast Asia, Japan, the western coast of Africa, Mesoamerica, and the west coast of South America are all featured global market destinations.

Today, black pepper comes from the Kerala state in India where 90% of today’s black pepper is produced and this marketplace sets the global price for this popular spice. On the West African coast in Kumasi, Ghana, grains, groundnut paste, kola nuts, dried caterpillars, yams, chiles, coffee and plantains are found. In Guatemala, highland fruits like mamey sapote, jacote and granadia fruit are sold. Though all of the foods found in these markets may not specifically be what was sold and traded in the first century, it does speak to the diversity of the products and the variety of foods found around the world back then as well as today. This is what drove people to new lands; wanting more in order to survive and experience new things.

Trade, both across the land as well as sea was developed and used by cultural groups, city-states, and empires to obtain what was needed in order to survive. Trade also flourished in order for societies to obtain goods that they desired. These desired goods improved the owner’s wealth, status and hierarchy within their communities. Sea trade opened up more of the world and allowed people to find new and exotic items. There was a greed element to developing new trade which drove people to explore and seek collaboration with other cities and states.

Interestingly enough, religion played a major role in the development of trade and was the catalyst for economic and political change. This was especially prevalent in the rise of the Islamic religion, which was friendly towards commercial life. This “friendliness” allowed Islam to become a force to be reckoned with within Eurasia and Africa; it was a powerful religion that commanded immense prestige, power and prosperity for its populace. There was a cultural shift in civilizations as religious ideas were introduced: People were obtaining power from wealth, and religion was played a role in obtaining this wealth. Within Southeast Asia, East Africa and in West Africa, Islam accompanied the trade that took place. There was a desire for products from each of these regions and this resulted in power. Power equals money and vice-versa. This is still seen today in all cultures across the globe.