[blam]

I was thinking, just last night, about how varied were the (flavors) tastes availabe to a 100AD British person. Some flavors they would not have had:

* Chocolate
* Tomatoes
* Potatoes
* Coffee
* Tobacco
* Hot Peppers
* Turkey

And so on.

Pretty bland I'd say.

(All the hot peppers in the world have their origins in the Carribean.)

[BobL]

“Pretty bland I’d say.”

Blam, Bland is a relative word. I remember visiting some people I knew that lived in Michigan (near Detroit). They were convinced they had the best pizza in the world. Having lived in the Northeast for a time, I just felt very sad for them.

[SunkenCiv]

Pepper (the table kind) was imported to the Roman Empire from the SW Pacific, along with the Orangutan. All they’d have needed was a table with a round hole in the middle of it, and they’d have been in the urban legends business. ;’)

Also, all of our ancestors used to eat and/or season with stuff we regard as unremarkable weeds. Tastes change, other stuff is more economical to grow — important as labor specialization and farm mechanization changed agriculture. But don’t forget, ADM and Monsanto are behind everything, and behind them are the Bilderbergers!!! /s

Wintercress is a peppery plant that pops up early in the spring (when it’s actually late winter, really); also there is the lowly mustard seed, loads of other stuff.

[tarawa]

Why do you think Britain established the empire it did? They weren’t out to rule the world, they just wanted to find some food with flavor. They grew up on bland Brit food and stuff like blood pudding, so risking their lives to go somewhere like India or China would have been pretty appealing.