Syrian Markets

Universe of Remotes, Syria

Having spent $50 to replace a proprietary remote earlier this year, I was sympathetic to the Syrian solution.

Syrian Spice Stall

I listened to the excellent Planet Money podcast #148 today: When Cinnamon Moved Markets, in which the Planet Money team speaks to Tom Sandage, an Economist editor and author of An Edible History of Humanity. In the interview, Sandage details how ancient Arab traders justified exorbitant prices on spices using tall tales. The traders would describe how one could only find cinnamon in the nests of gargantuan, unbelievably violent birds. In order to retrieve the cinnamon, traders had to butcher a cow and leave it strewn across the beach. The birds would then carry the meat back to their nests which would topple due to the weight and the traders would scurry to retrieve the cinnamon before being eaten alive.

Sandage calls spices, “the internet of the ancient world”–a method of mapping out paths of cultural influence and trade, a network of taste, a flare of flavor, and now its historical aftertaste. It is well worth a listen.