[Sca-cooks] Non-Europeans (mostly, but not completely, OT)

[Decker, Terry D.]

The idea that spices came to Europe from Polynesia is an error.  Polynesia
is one of the three main division of Oceania and covers roughly the area
between Hawaii, New Zealand and Easter Island.  Most of the spices came from
the South China Sea west into the Indian Ocean.  Oceania is to the east of
the major spice areas with Micronesia being the closest to the spice
islands.

Bear

> From: El Hermoso Dormido <ElHermosoDormido at dogphilosophy.net>
>
> The notion of showing up at an event dressed up in a
> Polynesian outfit has occurred to me (though I'm not likely to
> ever ACTUALLY do it), since, after all, a lot of spices that
> were very important to Europe (hey, look!  I've somehow managed to
> make this thread relevant to cooking for a moment! :-) ) came from
> the area, so I'd have at least as much excuse to do that as to
> adopt a Japanese persona.