If you’ve ever wondered how your kitchen cabinet became a treasure trove of global flavors, you need to look back thousands ...

For many years, the ancient Greeks and ... But the world’s demand for spices grew throughout the Roman era and into the medieval period, defining economies from India to Europe.

In the historic neighbourhood of Fort Kochi, for example, close to an ancient banyan tree, is India’s oldest church ... plantations growing a variety of spices such as cloves, nutmeg, cardamom ...

They remain a small but important presence in Kochi, a trading hub on the Kerala coast since ancient times ... In the first century CE, India's spices—especially black pepper and malabathrum ...

When pulao made its way to India, it was completely transformed in royal kitchens. Indian chefs experimented with local spices like cumin, coriander and turmeric. They even added nuts and dried fruits ...

KAMAKURA, Kanagawa Prefecture—Mehta Bharat, operating out of a 100-year-old house in this ancient capital outside ... with chaat masala, a spice mix from India. Bharat sometimes touches on ...