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The Mediterranean basin is well known for the extensive variety of wild, edible herbs which grow there. The climate contributes immensely to the cultivation of the hardy, bitter plants which are characterized by their richly pungent volatile oils.

Celiflor’s answer was clear and direct. “We don’t like to eat dry food,” she declared when I asked why Mexicans had so many different kinds of salsas. Molés or sauces commonly known as salsas are mostly chilli based and are boastfully flavourful. Not always piquant - guacamole immediately comes to mind - they are welcome additions to most meals.

The Malabar Coast, in the Southwest of India, is, quite possibly, the most fabulous place in the history of the Spice Road. It’s not only where pepper originated, but it’s also there, deep in the jungle, that one finds one of the rarest spices in the world: cardamom, which lends its name to the very hills in which it grows.

La vallée de Oaxaca (prononcer Wa-ha-ka) se trouve à la jonction des grandes sierras qui forment le plateau central mexicain. Cette riche région agricole est habitée depuis des millénaires par de nombreux peuples qui ont toujours cultivé le maïs, les haricots, les tomates et les chiles.

The village of Nuodeng has long been famous for its salt production and aged hams, which are dried in the fresh mountain air.

Yucatan food is characterized by rustic dishes with uncommon flavours. Other than a few hot exceptions, dishes tend to be dominated by sour and salty. By contrast, accompanying salsas are ferociously hot.

Our annual trip to India is upon us and despite our many years spice hunting all over the world, returning to Kerala in the southwestern part of the country still really excites us. Apart from standard concerns such as valid visas and preventative medications for potential traveler’s complaints, there are a few other items that are never removed from our “must not forget or suffer” list.

Indian civilization originated some 7000 years ago in the valley of the Indus River. It is from this area, which then included Pakistan, that ancient Indian culture spread northward into the region that even today is still referred to as Hind or Sind. Already, during this period, cereal and cattle were agricultural corner stones and trade drove the economy.

We were recently visiting the South-eastern region of Mexico in the state of Oaxaca where we have often gone spice hunting. This trip was to be strictly recreational however, but I’ll admit that some habits are hard for us to break, and travelling without a clearly stated objective remains a cherished practice that we‘re not ready to rid ourselves of quite yet. And like with any bad habit, we try to get other people doing it too. This time it was our old friends from Sri Lanka, who were coming to Mexico for their cinnamon business. We had some pretty loosely-stated objectives from the start, but actually it turned out that a good market meander was just what we, and our cinnamon-growing friends, were looking for in Oaxaca.

Caribbean cuisine is a wonderful reflection of the rich and diverse history of the region – especially of the Lesser Antilles (which do not include the larger islands of Cuba and Hispaniola). These islands were the domain of indigenous tribes of Arawaks and Caribs until the arrival of Europeans and were the subject of innumerable, seemingly incessant disputes between the Spaniards, French, British and the Dutch.