The Spice Route
I was always inspired by how spices connected people across the world and created commerce, connections and cultures in every part of the world.  From the merchant of Venice to the spanish explorers, many wars were fought, oceans crossed and money exchanged in the pursuit of spices.  The spice route is a network of several ocean routes that played a very important role in the history of the world. It in fact was the way many continents including the Americas, were discovered as sea-faring adventurers funded by "royal" venture capitalists, built large ships to traverse the oceans to try and find the shortest paths to India in search of spices. One such path lead to the discovery of America, and yet another the discovery of South Africa as brave voyagers tried to find the shortest ocean route to India around Africa.  This is what added the richness of spices to cuisines across the globe.  A few fun facts: chilies are not native to India or Asia, they were actually brought to Asia by Spanish explorers who brought the chili plant back with them from South America. Similarly pasta is not originally Italian, it came from China, brought back by explorers who went looking for Silk in China. Did you know that Lemons were not native to the Amalfi coast, though they are grown and used extensively in that region?  The Lemons grown there originated from India, Burma and China. This is why food is the fabric that ties us all together into a single global community. I hope this site inspires you to appreciate food and other cultures in a whole new way!

This site is dedicated to my mom, Joy Nesamoney who passed away in 2022, she taught and inspired me to cook and showed me that cooking for others is a form of love and art and one you can do all your life.
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