From European Charters to the EV: How Consumerism Wages War Upon the Earth
Posted by anonymous | Apr 8, 2023 | Uncategorized | 0 |
What drives consumerism? One is the perception of rarity, the other is insatiability. Orchids that only grow near the peaks of the Japanese Alps and rarely go in bloom fetch a fortune compared to the ones that line the spread out valleys. When someone becomes the last in line the family tree, they feel special. It may even motivate them to produce an heir. We may not think much of these examples as they are common. But as a species, we take sentimentality and novelity to an extreme. An extreme to such an extent that we have become an endangered species in denial.
Most people find nutmeg pleasant, I’d conjecture, although there are plenty of people too who probably don’t care for it very much. And the vast majority of us do not crave for nutmeg every day or feel a sense of loss if it’s missing at Starbucks. There are those though who really like their cinnamon and might miss that, however. If there’s any time that Americans might miss nutmeg, it would be at Christmas:
“Christmas, to me, comes perfumed with nutmeg: a cosy, homely scent–“one of the magical smells”, as Nigel Slater puts it—”
Indeed, the value, or ‘magic’ behind the spice is almost soley due to a cultural bias that associates it with childhood in the hearth and warmth of a Christian home. Nutmeg, as you may or may not know however, played a critical role in imperialism, nationalist rivalry, and colonialism, ultimately ending with the slave trade and both world wars.
“which is why I was so taken aback by Sathnam Sanghera’s account of what the culinary historian Michael Krondl describes as “the horrendous, horrendous tale” of the spice’s bloody history. Cloake, F. (2021, December 10)”
Of course there is nothing intrinsic about nutmeg itself that drove people mad with bloodlust. But it is worth noting some of the facts behind this, in reality, pleasant but unremarkable spice:
- “Once upon a time, the world’s entire crop came from a handful of islands 2,000km east of Java, which made them the focus of intense European interest, given the value of those seeds appreciated by around 32,000 per cent en route to market in the West.” Cloake, F. (2021)
- “English’s first successful contact with the Spice Islands is considered to be the Run (Milton 1999). It was here later the English claimed their first colony and established the English East India Company.” (Sasikumar, 2021)
- “Naturally, the English were involved–indeed, some historians claim that when the population of the tiny island of Run, one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia, pledged their allegiance to the English East India Company in 1616, in the futile hope it would protect them from the brutality of the Dutch, it was the beginning of the largest empire the world has ever seen. Islanders presented the company with a nutmeg seedling–a powerful statement of trust given the local monopoly. Needless to say, the company abused this, carelessly swapping 15,000 lives in a treaty with the Netherlands for, among other things, Manhattan, barely half a century later. Run’s new masters went on to murder or deport more than 90 per cent of the population, leaving the rest as slaves.” Cloake, F. (2021)
If not construed yet, ‘Run’ was the first island made famous for nutmeg. It was thought to be the only place in the world where nutmeg trees grew, although in reality there were around 150 varieties of the genus spread throughout the area. The result however, was that Run was fiercely guarded and patrolled, leading to a brutal merchant madness. The appreciation of nutmeg of 32,000% from source to destination is surely a record in commerce history.
References
Sasikumar, B. (2021). Nutmeg – Origin, diversity, distribution and history. Journal of Spices & Aromatic Crops, 30(2), 131–141. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.25081/josac.2021.v30.i2.7250
Cloake, F. (2021, December 10). Nutmeg, the ultimate Christmas spice, has a dark and intoxicating history. New Statesman, 150(5649), 121+. https://link-gale-com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/apps/doc/A687770847/AONE?u=nhc_main&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=da8a80c5
Poliński, S., Topka, P., Tańska, M., Kowalska, S., Czaplicki, S., & Szydłowska-Czerniak, A. (2022). Effect of Grinding Process Parameters and Storage Time on Extraction of Antioxidants from Ginger and Nutmeg. Molecules, 27(21), 7395. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.3390/molecules27217395
Parvin, R., Seo, J.-K., Eom, J.-U., Ahamed, Z., & Yang, H.-S. (2023). Inhibitory and antioxidative capacity of nutmeg extracts on reduction of lipid oxidation and heterocyclic amines in pan-roasted beef patties. Meat Science, 197, 109064. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1016/j.meatsci.2022.109064
Notes:
From Sasikumar, B. (2021):
Out of about 175 species in the genus, only five are economically important (Sasikumar, 2021)
The history of the spice is mired in bloody wars, piracies, privateers, clandestine collection trips, wanton felling of the heirloom trees besides inadvertent specimen identity, inaccurate chronology and a treaty of land swap. (Sasikumar, 2021)
Though nutmeg, a perennial tree of about 100 years of life span has only about 300 years of domestication history in the country, the cultivar diversity is amazing as exemplified by the high frequency of farmer’s varieties. (Sasikumar, 2021)
(Sasikumar, 2021)
We learn the less potent strains or mistaken for the original seed and fetched just as much money -author
Either due to the intrinsic quality of the produce or shrewd market maneuvering, the Spice Islands were frequented by Chinese, Malay, Javanese, and Arabo-Persian middlemen traders as early as 15th century, whose accounts advanced the European dreams of the Spice Islands. (Sasikumar, 2021)
The atrocities committed during this period were not a unilateral attack from Europe upon the native lands and peoples, but rather that coupled with just as bitter and furious rivalries between the Europeans themselves 200 years later, this rivalry for land and conquest and empire culminated in World W1 -author
And a bit of irony are you Enron was wrestled from British controlled by the Dutch, and after furious war and sued a settlement was finally reached to give what is now Manhattan then called new Amsterdam to Britain the trade terms were weighed in console, consulted and humid as fair. Today, we know the tremendous wealth of Manhattan versus the relative backwardness of the spice islands. -author
Rivalry between imperial, colonial powers, Portugal, Netherlands, Britain, etc. Establishment of trademark routes by India, Arabia, Java and China. Area of density of spices given the misnomer spice islands. -author
Fierce battles were waged between the Dutch and English as well as both with the native Bandanese to regain/retain the monopoly of nutmeg trade during 16 and 17th centuries.
Horrific brutality, diabolic maneuvering, merciless slaying of the natives, mindless felling of nutmeg plantations, swapping of islets etc. were the signet of these trade wars (Aubery 2012). (Sasikumar, 2021)
…English’s first successful contact with the Spice Island is considered to be the Run (Milton 1999). It was here later the English daimed their first colony and established the English East India Company. (Sasikumar, 2021)
Transnational spread of nutmeg is inseparably linked to colonialism. (Sasikumar, 2021)
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From Cloake, F. (2021, December 10)
Christmas, to me, comes perfumed with nutmeg: a cosy, homely scent–“one of the magical smells”, as Nigel Slater puts it–which is why I was so taken aback by Sathnam Sanghera’s account of what the culinary historian Michael Krondl describes as “the horrendous, horrendous tale” of the spice’s bloody history. Cloake, F. (2021, December 10)
Ultimate Christmas spies? Isn’t this just perpetuating the myths? -author
Once upon a time, the world’s entire crop came from a handful of islands 2,000km east of Java, which made them the focus of intense European interest, given the value of those seeds appreciated by around 32,000 per cent en route to market in the West. Cloake, F. (2021, December 10)
Naturally, the English were involved–indeed, some historians claim that when the population of the tiny island of Run, one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia, pledged their allegiance to the English East India Company in 1616, in the futile hope it would protect them from the brutality of the Dutch, it was the beginning of the largest empire the world has ever seen. Islanders presented the company with a nutmeg seedling–a powerful statement of trust given the local monopoly. Needless to say, the company abused this, carelessly swapping 15,000 lives in a treaty with the Netherlands for, among other things, Manhattan, barely half a century later. Run’s new masters went on to murder or deport more than 90 per cent of the population, leaving the rest as slaves. Cloake, F. (2021, December 10)
Like many spices, nutmeg was prized as much for being a medicine as a seasoning: the 12th-century polymath Hildegard of Bingen believed it had “a great warmth and a good mixture in its powers. When a human being eats nutmeg it opens his heart, and his sense is pure, and it puts him in a good state of mind.” It was held to protect against plague, and Samuel Pepys reports taking a mixture of honey and nutmeg for a cold, “which I found did do me much good”. Cloake, F. (2021, December 10)
MODERN USE
A.
“Spices” is a culinary term, not one of the botanical categories, and does not refer to a specific part of a plant or plant species [5]. Spices can be sourced from different parts of plants, such as leaves, buds, bark, roots, berries, seeds, and flowers. Szymon P., et al (October 31, 2022)
Nutmeg has a variety of important health benefits, including brain stimulation, heart function stimulation, detoxification properties, insomnia treatment, toothache treatment, and anti-inflammatory properties [15]. There is also a scientific rationale for the traditional use of nutmeg in the management of male sexual disorders [16]. However, the consumption of nutmeg in certain doses causes toxic and narcotic effects [17–19]. Moreover, the prolonged abuse of nutmeg can lead to chronic psychosis, which can be identified by impaired thinking Szymon P., et al (October 31, 2022)
B.
Identification and inhibition of mutagenic and carcinogenic heterocyclic amines (HCAs) from pan-roasted beef patties were performed by adding (0.02%) tertiary butyl hydroquinone (TBHQ) and (0.05%) ethanol-extracted nutmeg (ENE) using HPLC and principal component analysis. Ten HCAs, including six polar and four non-polar, were assessed. The addition of (0.05%) ENE significantly (P < 0.05) reduced the cooking loss and shrinkage of patties during cooking and reduced the total formation HCAs by 73.97%, which proved the sig nificant (P < 0.05) inhibitory effect as a natural antioxidant against lipid oxidation and HCA formation compared to TBHQ. The DPPH radical-scavenging activity, total phenolic content, and available active metabolites of ENE Parvin, R. et al (2023)
Fresh and processed meats are highly vulnerable to decay by oxidative degeneration. ENE Parvin, R. et al (2023)
Cooking ac celerates the oxidation of lipids and protein in meat and promotes the accumulation of health-damaging cytotoxic and genotoxic components after meat consumption ENE Parvin, R. et al (2023)
