Spices, Sustainably
For most of us, spices are the light switches that illuminate worlds of flavor and creativity in the kitchen. But beyond flavor and complexity, spices are a window into cultural cuisines, regional ecosystems, and millenia-old trade markets, with common threads of colonization and environmental exploitation. As with almost anything that has become commodified, peeking behind the curtain often reveals a long history of complex power-dynamics spanning centuries and borders. In this article, we’ll touch on what spices are, how they came to be a globally traded commodity, and what you can do to support a more direct and equitable spice market.
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When someone says “spices”, your first visual is likely some vibrantly colored powder, and while your spice cabinet may imply a level of homogeneity between them, spices are actually an incredibly diverse collection of potent botanicals that come in a huge number of shapes and sizes. This includes seeds like fennel or mustard, fruits like cayenne, barks like cinnamon, flower buds like clove, or roots like ginger and turmeric. “Herbs”, on the other hand, traditionally refer to leaves like oregano or basil. Typically you’ll find these spices pre-dried, pre-ground, and pre-packaged. These preparations improve shelf-life substantially, but it’s important to remember the roots of these products!
Globalism, colonialism, exploitation
While spices have been harvested and traded as early as 10,000 BCE, the global spice market as we know it really began around 2,000 BCE in the Indian subcontinent, a spice-harvesting mecca that has held its title ever since. Spices were grown and exchanged between the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, North Africa, and East Asia for centuries, and were used for not just the flavoring of foods, but medicinal purposes as well. As empires grew in East Asia, North Africa, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean during the first millennium ACE, the globalization of the spice trade evolved into a market whose dominance was continuously sought after. For empires, spices were big money, and control of the routes they were traded on even more so. For farmers, the reality of the spice market existed within plantations, and as the markets and scales of globalization grew, these plantations often became pawns of colonization, along with the people and environments that it exploited. As spices became commodified, they emerged as symbols of wealth and power, and in the process, often became too costly to be used by those whose countries and cultures produced them.
Spice markets in the 21st Century
While the players and mechanics of our global economy has changed drastically over the past few centuries, many things, at least in the spice trade, have stayed the same. Many spice farms are still small scale and family owned, but the markets they engage in can create significant pressure from fluctuating market conditions, which, when paired with the impacts of climate change on their agricultural systems, can result in significant financial strain. As markets have continued to grow and place more pressure on farmers to expand their operations, large ecosystems have often been sacrificed to accommodate these agricultural expansions. What’s more, in light of significant surges in the popularity of spices like turmeric, ginger, and vanilla for their increased ubiquity in home cooking and health-food trends, exploding demand for high-intensity spice-crops has places even more strain on farmers and their agricultural systems. Previously mentioned implications of these trends were financial pressure on farmers and environmental degradation to their farms and surrounding ecosystems, but quality has also been placed on the chopping block. As with many high-value commodities, a common “solution” to growing demand is “cheating”. This means things like cutting/blending spices with fillers and colorings to increase volume and perceived quality. While quality-control solutions to these problems are cropping up in different forms across the world, these solutions are treating the symptoms, not the cause. These kinds of actions are the result of a substantial lack of transparency in the industry, and gargantuan supply chains. As Ethan Frisch, the founder of Burlap & Barrel, a single-origin, direct-to-consumer spice company explained, for an article with Epicurious:
There are people who benefit from a consumer's lack of understanding. Likewise, [there are people] who benefit from the farmers' lack of understanding about where the spices are going." By the time you buy supermarket spices, Frisch explains, they've likely changed hands 15 to 20 times. The spices you're buying aren't from one farm or even one region, either; they're likely the work of hundreds or even thousands of farmers around the world. The way it all comes together is enough to make your head spin. "A small farmer will grow a small quantity of a spice, which they will sell to a guy with a truck who then sells it to somebody in a local town who's collecting from ten guys with trucks," says Frisch. "Then that guy sells it down the mountain to a guy with a bigger warehouse who is consolidating from ten or fifteen other consolidators. The spices are mixed together locally and then mixed together regionally and then eventually they get mixed together in a capital city or a port where the products from potentially hundreds of farmers is packaged for export." Then, there's a whole additional complicated process on the import side, once the spices make their way here. "You have a huge importer who then sells to a huge distributor or several distributors; they repackage or break them down to sell to smaller distributors, down the chain.
These extended supply chains are great for distributors, who take a cut along the way and are less concerned with quality, but are bad for consumers who want quality and transparency, and farmers who want a living wage. What’s the solution to this madness? Transparency, fair-trade, single-origin, direct-to-consumer spices. Make the process clear, respect the work and energy and expertise of our farmers, and cut out the middle men.
How you can support sustainable, equitable spice markets
So, what can an individual do to support more economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable markets? There are a few options.
Buying spices in bulk from local vendors may feel like the best bet, but there may be more ambiguity in where those spices are coming from in this scenario than there will be when buying packaged spices from some company. If you do decide to go this route, there’s a few critical components you need to keep in mind: traceability, sustainability, product quality, origination, food safety, & reliability. Olam has put together an awesome resource on tips to shop for spices in bulk responsibly. Check it out here!
Buy spices from companies committed to equity and sustainability. This is certainly the easier option, but sometimes easier can also be better. A slew of progressive companies have entered the market on a mission to give the market the transparency it sorely needs, farmers the wages they deserve, and consumers the quality they seek. Additionally, these single-origin spices tend to spend less time in the supply chain, making them fresher when they get to you, and thus more potent with a longer shelf-life. Here’s a few of those companies:
Diaspora Co: This WOC-led company focuses on a small handful of spices, sustainably grown by fairly-paid farmers in India. The small group of farmers that produce their spices are also leading the way in sustainable, regenerative agriculture.
Curio Spice: This women-owned company sells directly-sourced, small batch spices from progressively sustainable farms in New England. They value organic, fair-trade ingredients, the support of women farmers and business leaders, and give back to their local communities in a variety of wonderful ways like local education initiatives.
Burlap and Barrel: Partnering directly with smallholder farmers around the world, they focus on ensuring a supply chain that is direct, equitable, transparent, and traceable. Their mission is to end the inequality and exploitation that has defined much of the spice market by giving farmers access to high value markets, educating consumers on the impact of their choices, and sourcing their spices from agriculturally progressive farms.
Mala Market: A mother & daughter owned company that sources sichuanese spices directly from Chinese farms and producers to ensure authenticity, quality, and transparency.
Rumi Spice: Started by a team of US Military veterans, this company “brings flavorful, ethically sourced and socially responsible spices from Afghanistan to [their] customers while catalyzing sustainable rural economic development in Afghanistan and providing countless jobs to Afghan farmers and women who harvest and process the spices.”
Grow your own! Many spices like coriander and cumin are seeds from plants that can easily be grown in most climates! Coriander seeds come from the cilantro plant, cumin seeds from a plant related to parsley, & paprika from dried and ground peppers, the list goes on!
Buy locally! Some local farmers in your area may be producing their own spices, whole or ground. Not only is this as direct as it gets, these will also likely be the freshest spices you can get your hands on, and with freshness comes flavor! Keep your eye out for locally produced spices the next time you hit the farmers market or local grocer!
#UseItUp! Often, the most sustainable foods and products are those we already own. While spices rarely “go-bad” or “spoil”, they will lose potency over time. So, before you head to a local vendor or one of the amazing companies we listed above, use the ones you already have! Pre-ground spices are the most susceptible to this potency decline, followed by fresh or whole spices. If you have way more than you think you can use in a reasonable time frame (it really varies depending on the spice type and if it’s ground or not), you can always share them or freeze them (though freezing is only recommended if you have large amounts)!
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An aside about using spices: As we mentioned earlier, spices are most often bought pre-dried, pre-ground, and pre-packaged, but this isn’t the only option! Spices can also be found fresh or whole-dried. The upside to buying spices like this is that, if used and stored with care, they will almost always be substantially more flavorful. The downside is that you may need to do some processing on your end (drying and/or grinding), and, if they’re fresh, have a short shelf life. For some spices, this is worth it. Fresh ground black pepper (ground from whole peppercorns) is significantly more flavorful than it’s pre-ground counterpart, fresh ginger is simply incomparable to pre-ground dried ginger, and smaller seeds like fennel and mustard seeds can easily be ground or used whole. If you’re wondering why these fresh and/or whole versions are so much more flavorful, it’s because the process that produces most of the flavor occurs when the oils within are exposed to oxygen. Mitigate this process and you hold onto flavor, expedite it (through pre-grinding) and you let it fade.