Abstract
Food and nutrition have not only been contributed by biological production through its cultivation and husbandry, it reflects the history and tradition of a nation as well. India has historically been one of the world’s prominent sites for the origin and husbandry of a good score of spices which transcends history nation and culture since time immemorial. The suitability of ecological configuration and meteorological behaviour, the Indian diaspora have carried it forward not only to support her cultural tradition but also to meet up both therapeutic and culinary requirements of spices. From mythology to history, from history to the modern political economy, spices have got a beautiful and aromatic continuity across nations and cultures. The quality of food and its palatability, the nutritive value of food and its therapeutics are nicely contributed by spices. The geospatial distribution in India encompasses hill terrains to rain forest, coastal ecosystem to semi-arid agro-ecology, moist forest ecosystem to rice-based agro-ecosystem in alluvial lands. Spices have got a well-pervading role for integrating ecological diversity and cultural mellifluence. This chapter is designed to keep on unveiling the following aspects of spices in India: history, literature, geospatial distribution over India, the cultural aroma and its socio-economic uniqueness for supporting macro-economy as well as community livelihood generation process.
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Sharangi, A.B., Acharya, S.K. (2018). Spices in India and Beyond: The Origin, History, Tradition and Culture. In: Sharangi, A. (eds) Indian Spices. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75016-3_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75016-3_1
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