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Writer's pictureAkanksha Damini Joshi

Pepper Tales : The Romans & The Goths

The Ayurvedic black jewel, Pepper, sits gracefully atop my Ghee Pongal. The Vaidyas call it ‘The Wise Sage’.


For the body, it is hot - but just about enough. For the mind, it is invigorating - but gentle, not rough.

It is yumm. But it is also anti-inflammatory, aids digestion, and is the recipe given by desi grandmas for cough and cold!


For thousands and thousands of years it has been used both for medicinal and flavoring purposes across India. From Kashmir to Nagaland; from Gujarat to Odisha, from Chhatisgarh to Tamil Nadu.

In varying degrees, every regional cuisine is peppered with its presence!


But we Indians aren’t its only admirers. The Ancient Romans were equally smitten by our pepper. They didn’t just use it in cooking—they also employed it medicinally and even as currency.


Apicius, the famed 4th-century Roman cookbook, is peppered with recipes featuring black pepper. For instance, in a spiced wine called conditum paradoxum, pepper was mixed with honey, wine, and other spices.


Another recipe for lamb or goat stew included pepper along with cumin, coriander, and dried mint. Pepper also found its way into garum, the fermented fish sauce that was a staple in Roman cuisine.

Roman physicians, like Galen, recommended it to treat digestive issues, believing it could stimulate appetite and improve digestion. The Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder noted its medicinal value in Natural History, highlighting its use against poisons and other illnesses.


Romans also relied on pepper for its preservative qualities. Its antimicrobial properties helped preserve meats during long voyages or periods of scarcity. Its strong flavor often masked the unpleasant taste of aging food.


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The final ode to pepper came in 409 CE when Alaric, the Visigoth leader, laid siege to Rome. His ransom demand included not just gold and silver, but also 3,000 pounds of pepper!


And you know where the pepper came from?! Yes, through complex trade routes, all the way from the Chera terriory of Tamilakam in penninsular India.


As Rome's political chaos increased, trade with Tamilakam slowed down. While Roman coins from the 1st and 2nd centuries are found in abundance in Tamilakam, those from the third century are rare.

But, obviously, the trade did not die out.


This very pepper saved the glory of Rome, preventing that dreadful Sacking of the “eternal city” - a defining event in the decline of the Western Roman Empire - by, well, about a year.


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