A Note on the Recipes

My purpose in this book is twofold. Firstly, at its most elemental, to show different techniques with spice and how to use them to create well-balanced, vibrant meals. Secondly, in a project that has fascinated and consumed me utterly, to explore the culinary history behind spice and how it informs the food we eat.

A collection of spice recipes could be boundless, just as the trade in time came to envelop the globe and bring people the world over into its thrall. I have limited our scope first by geography. We will stay within the bounds of the original spice routes – the sea trade passages of antiquity that wove through Asia and the Middle East. Focusing on the journey, we’ll leave the nutmeg-scented custards, saffron paellas and cinnamon buns of Europe. We’ll also largely leave aside recipes born of the overland spice trade, another voyage of cultural diffusion winding through China and Central Asia along the paths known as the Silk Road, though crossover is inevitable in this tangled web. We won’t venture much along the later trading routes to the Americas and Africa.