Why are spices delicious?
CrowdScience
BBC
4.8 • 985 Ratings
🗓️ 13 October 2023
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
CrowdScience listener Kristine from Wisconsin in the USA wants to know why herbs and spices taste so good to so many of us. She’s intrigued to know if there's evidence that herbs and spices can keep us healthy.
Anand Jagatia visits the historic naval city of Portsmouth in the UK, where exotic spices from around the world were first brought in from the East Asia more than 600 years ago.
He’s on a journey to find out why many of us think spices are delicious. But are there also nutritional benefits to seasoning our food with them? Anand asks what science or studies are there to show that eating herbs and spices can be beneficial for our health?
Presenter: Anand Jagatia Producer: Joanna Hall Assistant Producer: Jonathan Harris Editor: Richard Collings Studio Technicians: Bob Nettles & Steve Greenwood
Contributors:
Prof. Lindell Bromham, evolutionary biologist, Australian National University Dr. Kanchan Koya, Molecular Biologist and founder of the Spice Spice Baby website Dr. Beronda L. Montgomery, plant biologist and Dean at Grinnell College, Iowa, USA Dr. Lorenzo Stafford an olfactory researcher, Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, UK
(Photo: A couple stand at a spice shop. Credit: Thomas Barwick / Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, the Science of |
| 0:07.0 | Happiness Podcast. |
| 0:08.0 | For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want |
| 0:14.4 | to share that science with you. |
| 0:16.1 | And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley. |
| 0:19.4 | I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that |
| 0:25.4 | calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds. If you go into the kitchen of many Indian households in one of the drawers or cupboards you'll find a round stainless steel tin and inside that tin you'll find a selection of seven or more small steel bowls each filled with a different spice from turmeric and chili powder to cumin and mustard seeds. Each kitchen will have a |
| 0:55.8 | different selection and when it's time to cook dinner is one of the first things you reach |
| 1:00.2 | for. But that tin is just the tip of the iceberg. I've got a whole |
| 1:04.2 | kitchen cupboard stuffed full of ingredients that won't fit in the tin, things |
| 1:07.9 | like Fenigriek and Asafetida, and at my mom's house half of her entire |
| 1:12.3 | walk-in pantry is taken up with various herbs and spices |
| 1:16.4 | and it'll probably take a lifetime for me to learn to use them as judiciously as she does. |
| 1:21.6 | Whatever part of the world you're from and whatever types of |
| 1:23.9 | cuisine you enjoy cooking or eating, food without spices is, well, almost not |
| 1:29.5 | worth eating. But why is that? I'm Anan Jagatier and today on crowd science we're asking |
| 1:36.1 | how does the heat of black pepper or the fragrance of basil turn our food from |
| 1:41.0 | something mundane into something magical. |
| 1:44.0 | And like always, it's thanks to an email from one of our listeners, |
| 1:47.0 | Christine in Wisconsin, USA. |
| 1:50.0 | On an evolutionary level, why do humans like to add herbs and spices to our food? |
| 1:59.2 | How did this question come to you? Why are you interested in understanding the deliciousness of herbs and spices? |
... |
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