Spices in early modern England – a cross disciplinary study

Abstract

Reading popular English literature of the last hundred years would lead one to believe that English food always has been bland. This is surprising, considering that England, during the early modern period (1500-1850 AD) established the East India Company, partially for the spice trade and became the largest global spice merchant, centred on London. Hence, it cannot be that the English spice trade did not influence English Culture. What happened during the early modern period that significantly changed the usage of spices in English culture? Using an enhanced food choice model, this dissertation analyses how factors such as imports, exports, storage, consumer income, historical/geographical antecedents, spice production and pricing influenced the spice supply into England, which then impacted spice-buying behaviour and usage. The research has used primary data sources from the British Library’s East India Archive, UK National Archives, Newspaper Archives and English Ports Data, and relied on secondary academic data sources. This data was used for an economic historical analysis of the English spice trade, spices used as financial assets, crimes, spice usage in food and medicine, its representation in art and literature, religion, magic, perfumes, fashion, and clothing. The findings show that spice usage was common until 1800-1850. Thereafter, cultural, political, and scientific factors led to its decline. War necessitated distinguishing bland English food from spiced French food after Waterloo; the repudiation of the medical humoral theory positing that spices heal the sick; and a rise in atheism/non-religiosity and better education combined to substantially reduce spice usage across many aspects of English Culture. Since mid-twentieth century, the Chicken Tikka Masala curry has become the English national dish. This is no novelty. The study shows that English food has been spiced since Roman Times; the century of bland food (1850-1950) was an aberration.