The Lasting Impact of Roman Infrastructure on the Use of Black Pepper in Europe

Schultz-Ray, Rudra

The Lasting Impact of Roman Infrastructure on the Use of Black Pepper in Europe

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10456/57027

Author(s)

Schultz-Ray, Rudra

Date Issued

November 16, 2023

Abstract

Using a long standing web of trade infrastructure through the Red Sea and Mediterranean, new Imperial Roman authority between the first century B.C.E. and the second century C.E. allowed for vastly improved access to spices like black pepper amongst the urban masses of Rome. As Rome expanded its border deep into Africa and Europe, it brought with it the taste of black pepper, intertwining the spice with local European cuisines. The collapse of the Western Roman Empire prompted the decay of that authority that helped to maintain and construct expensive trade infrastructure throughout Europe. Doing so led to decreased access to black pepper, shifting social and economic outlooks on the spice. Locations like Germany proved less damaged due to its immediate proximity to the Venetian pepper trade, but reduced connections to the Roman trade in Gaul and Britain was exacerbated by the collapse. Prompting a cultural upheaval against the use of black pepper in the sixteenth century C.E within France and the British Isles.

Major

History

First Reader(s)

Miller, Brian J.