Darwinian Gastronomy: Why We Use Spices

Abstract

pices are plant products used in flavoring foods and beverages. For thousands of years, aromatic plant materials have been used in food preparation and preservation, as well as for embalming, in areas where the plants are native, such as Hindustan and the Spice Islands (Govindarajan 1985, Dillon and Board 1994). During and after the Middle Ages, seafarers such as Marco Polo, Ferdinand Magellan, and Christopher Columbus undertook hazardous voyages to establish routes to trading ports in primary spice-growing regions (Parry 1953). The spice trade was so crucial to national economies that rulers repeatedly mounted costly expeditions to raid spice-growing countries, and struggles for the control of these countries precipitated several wars. When Alarich, a leader of the Goths, laid siege to Rome in AD 408, he demanded as ransom various precious metals and 3000 pounds of pepper (Scheiper 1993).Today, spice use is ubiquitous, but spices are far more important in some cuisines than others. Most people have experienced this variability firsthand, when traveling in foreign lands, dining at international Humans have borrowed plants' chemical "recipes" for evolutionary survival for use in cuisine to combat foodborne microorganisms and to reduce food poisoning restaurants, or preparing exotic recipes at home. Japanese dishes are often "delicate," Indonesian and Szechwan dishes "hot," and middle European and Scandinavian dishes "bland." Usually these differences are merely chalked up to cultural idiosyncrasies. Several years ago, we became curious about this interpretation. We wondered if there are any predictable patterns of spice use and, if so, what factors might underlie them. In this article, we summarize the results of our inquiries. We found that spice use is decidedly nonrandom and that spices have several beneficial effects, the most important of which may be reducing foodborne illnesses and food poisoning. What is a spice?"Spice" is a culinary term, not a botanical category-it does not refer to a specific kind of plant or plant part (Farrell 1990). Indeed, spices come from various woody shrubs and vines, trees, aromatic lichens, and the roots, flowers, seeds, and Patterns of spice useConventional wisdom tells us that cuisines of tropical countries are spicier than those of northern countries, but patterns of spice use around the world have not been quantified.To do so, we located "traditional" cookbooks, which were written primarily to archive the author's native cuisine. We analyzed recipes in 93 traditional cookbooks from 36 counties (at least two books from each country) and quantified the use of 43 Paul W. Sherman is a professor at Cornell University. He studies the behavioral ecology of various birds and mammals and teaches animal behavior and Darwinian medicine. Jennifer Billing was an undergraduate Honors student at Cornell when she began studying spices. She now teaches biology and chemistry at The Dalton School in New York City. 0

The evolution of cultural adaptations: Fijian food taboos protect against dangerous marine toxins

“…Some of these authors have speculated on precisely the kind of cultural evolutionary processes that we provide empirical evidence for below (e.g. Sherman & Billing (1999)). …”

Pathogen prevalence predicts human cross-cultural variability in individualism/collectivism

“…Sherman & Billing (1999) suggested a link between pathogens and regional differences in cuisine. Several sets of research results have linked pathogen prevalence to cross-cultural differences in values and norms pertaining to mating and parenting behaviour (Low 1990;Gangestad & Buss 1993;Gangestad et al 2006;Quinlan 2007).…”

“…To the extent that particular forms of social behaviour (and the specific psychological mechanisms underlying those behaviours) serve an antipathogen defence function, then those behaviours (and the underlying mechanisms) are more likely to characterize the cultural populations within which there has historically been greater prevalence of disease-causing pathogens. Prior research shows that worldwide variability in pathogen prevalence predicts specific kinds of cultural differences, including differences in food preparation (Sherman & Billing 1999), marriage structures (Low 1990), parenting practices (Quinlan 2007) and mate preferences (Gangestad et al 2006). We focus here on the multifaceted value systems of individualism and collectivism, which are fundamental to social scientists' descriptions of culture and cross-cultural differences (e.g.…”

“…Given that many specific traditions and norms (such as those pertaining to food preparation; e.g. Sherman & Billing 1999) can serve as buffers against pathogen transmission, deviance from the status quo may pose a contagion risk to self and others, whereas conformity helps to maintain the integrity of these ritualized buffers against disease. In sum, the behavioural manifestations of collectivism (compared with the behavioural manifestations of individualism) are more likely to provide defence against the dangers posed by pathogens.…”

Ecological Threat and Psychological Variation

“…The upshot, then, is that psychological and behavioral characteristics germane to the threat of disease transmission should predictably co-vary with the threat of disease within the local ecology. An example is provided by research documenting worldwide variation in the use of culinary spices (Sherman & Billing, 1999). Spices are natural antibiotics; they contain toxins that kill many of the potentially harmful bacteria that can be found in otherwise palatable food.…”