Spice Flavor Culture: A Culinary Journey Around the World, One Spice Blend At a Time

By Matt Artz

Spice. The essence of a certain plant, and thus of a certain place, distilled down into some crumpled leaves or a fine powder. Flavor. A mixture of taste and smell that stimulates the senses and invokes feelings, memories, and a sense of place. Culture. The values, behaviors, and practices that define a group of people. One of the key things that define a culture is their foods. And their foods are defined by their spices. This book contains recipes for more than 150 spice blends from over 65 countries around the world. And because the ingredients used in some of the recipes may be unfamiliar to you or go by different names in different parts of the world, at the back of the book you’ll find an exhaustive index that cross references hundreds of names of various spices, herbs, and other ingredients.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jan 31, 2018
• ISBN: 9781387559121

Matt Artz

Matt Artz is a principal content strategist for Esri Press. 

Book preview

Spice Flavor Culture: A Culinary Journey Around the World, One Spice Blend At a Time

Introduction

The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.

—T.S. Eliot

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Spice. The essence of a certain plant, and thus of a certain place, distilled down into some crumpled leaves or a fine powder. 

Flavor. A mixture of taste and smell that stimulates the senses and invokes feelings, memories, and a sense of place.

Culture. The values, behaviors, and practices that define a group of people. One of the key things that defines a culture is the flavor of their foods. And the flavor of their foods is defined by their spices.

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As an American child of the 1960s, experimentation with ethnic foods never really entered into the picture.  On top of that, I was a very picky eater. 

As a teenager I got the opportunity to travel widely around the globe, and even lived in South Africa and Greece.  But I did little to sample the local fare, and when I did, instead of enjoying it, I dreamed of the food back home—mainly McDonalds. 

Many years later, in a quest to improve my health, I realized that many of the world’s healthiest cultures ate very simple foods, and got around the boredom factor through liberal use of their own special spice blends.  Think of the classic meat on a stick street food you can find in countless cultures; what makes it unique to the place is the special blend of local spices used as a seasoning. I began doing research about regional spice blends in all corners of the world, and amassed a large collection of ingredients so I could try each and every one of them.  And thus this book was born. 

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Herbs (the leaves and stems of plants) and spices (the fruits, seeds, and other parts of plants) have been used by humans for thousands of years to preserve food, enhance flavor, and even to make spoiled food more palatable.

Spice blends are made by combining different herbs and spices (and sometimes other ingredients) together. This book is the result of more than five years of exhaustive research into spice blends that help define cuisine and culture in dozens of countries across the globe.

This book is organized by region. We start first with Europe, and then travel to the Middle East before dropping down in to Africa. Then we head across the Atlantic Ocean to North and South America, followed by a quick swing through the Caribbean before ending our journey in Asia. Within each of these regions, recipes for specific blends are presented alphabetical by country.

Because the ingredients used in some of the recipes may be unfamiliar to you or go by different names in different parts of the world, at the back of the book you’ll find an exhaustive index that cross references hundreds of names of various spices, herbs, and other ingredients, both common and uncommon.

This book contains recipes for over 150 spice blends from more than 65 countries around the world. A few more notes before we dive in.

Measurements

Tablespoons. Teaspoons. Milliliters. Grams. Cups. When researching recipes from many different countries, you’ll find these and other measurements being used. In order to simplify the recipes in this book and make it usable universally across the globe, I have recalculated the quantities of ingredients required for each recipe into a generic measurement I call part. This means that no matter where you are in the world, no matter what type of measurement you prefer, you can use the recipes in this book. It also lets you control the amount you make. Not sure about a recipe and just want to make a small amount so you can try it? Use ¼ Teaspoon as your part. Love a recipe and want to make a huge batch so you can share it with all of your friends and family over the holidays? Use 1 Cup as your part.

Whole vs. Ground

In addition to standardizing measurements, most recipes have been simplified by calling for pre-ground or powdered ingredients. If you would rather use whole spices, or a combination of whole and ground, you can do so and grind the whole spices. Many of these blends will benefit flavor-wise by the use of freshly ground ingredients.

Variants

For many of the spice blends shared here, there are almost as many different ways to make them as there are people making them. So instead of sending me an irate email saying My grandmother was from Yemen, and your recipe for Hawaij is nothing like what she used to make! just celebrate the differences as an element of the culture. And please email me that recipe for Hawaij!

About Salt…

Much has been written about the vast quantities of salt most of us consume in our modern diets. In reworking many of these recipes,