Just wondering if anyone has done a deep-dive on the subject.
I am starting to think the so called Ancient Spice Trade was actually due to the value of the spices & herbs medicinal value rather than ‘food flavoring’.
The early maratime trade routes were established world-wide based on the spice trade. Extremely large risks (ocean sailing) and large sums of money were involved.
Are we to believe early industry was basically built around putting some peppercorns on your food to make it taste better???? Or, even some King’s wishes to make his food taste better??
If you read a wiki or other history regarding Ancient Spice Trade and substitute the word ‘medicine’ for ‘spice’ things start to make sense economically.
Making food tase better might not have made the world go round but life saving medicine could have.
Many essential oils have anti-parasitic properties and other spices provide true health benefits as well. This used to be a little woo-woo but is starting to puncture the mainstream bubble.
I think when rocky-fellers rewrote history, they covered it up so they could fill us with sugar and parasites and create the pharma industry.
Thoughts???
I thought you were going to say the spice "routes" were a cover for child traffikking. Your hypothesis is logical 🍻
Those cabin boys on the ships transporting spices had a dual purpose.
These backwards young boy practices still happen in Islamic countries. In particular, Afghanistan and Pakistan
We’re not gonna talk about Afghanistan our ally like that are we?/s
US soldiers have some lurid tales that would shock the avg American. I saw a vet talking about it on Rogan and there's a few documentaries on youtube
I’ve seen one story, that’s enough.
A spec op soldier disobeyed orders and act like any man would in that situation. He was court martialed And also the movie Kite Runner.
There’s a reason Alexander the Great called Afghanistan the graveyard of empires. Any nation that attempts to attack or go through ends. I think even ghengis kahn avoided the damn place.
I’ve met more than one Veteran who will swear on their life that there wasn’t just the Taliban and Islamists in the Mountains. And that the entire place was a Hellhole
Though Alexander never called Afghanistan “The Graveyard of Empires” though it’s helpful propaganda the Afghanis like to encourage.
The only people who’ve had excessive amounts of difficulty conquering or controlling it. Have largely been Modern European and Western powers. Largely because we restrain what tactics we consider acceptable.
Hell. Were it not for the CIA funneling Guns, Explosives, Trainers and Money into Afghanistan. It’s quite feasibile the Soviets would have succeeded.
There wasn’t even really a notion of an “Afghanistan” till the 1700s. Prior to that it was a backwater frontier of loosely affiliated tribes that changed hands regularly between various Empires. None of which fell due to their presence in Afghanistan.
So they made up the Alexander quote in between kid fucking sessions.
And yes. There has to be something evil up there.
Spare no pedophile.
Best way to get Government workers to zero.
Scary and sad. No wonder apocalyptic floods keep happening.
Every nation that has enhanced in pederasty has fallen. People can wax poetic about Greece but there’s a reason anal sex is called Greek sex. Even their art is riddled with sodomy.
God promised never to use a flood again, I expect fire this time.
Atmospheric river incoming this weekend to the west coast. With all the burn scars from the fires it ought to be a mess!
Yes this is part two of this smart city op. First you burn it down (outside of fire season I might add) and then you manipulate the weather to cover it all in mud. I saw this coming the first day I heard about these out of season fires.
And in NC they are doing a three part disaster op. Flood, fire, then watch for more flood.
That is a possibility too. At the very least, to some extent. I think the silk road may have been more so but am not well read on either spice or silk.
I can see rich people spending that kind of money on spice,with no problem. They also made claims of the health benefits of spices at the time.
The sick road is on its way back.
If not healing after the disease, at least some spices can do a bit more than just make the food taste better, they can make it less likely to make you sick when you eat it. Considering that back then there were pretty limited ways to preserve food, but preserving it was still something you wanted to do so you'd have something to eat also on those days when you could not get fresh meat or just picked vegetables. Salt and honey were the most important ones, hence the very high price of salt back in those days, but there are others, and then the nicer taste was more of an added bonus, not the main reason, for their use.
https://www.askaprepper.com/10-spices-that-make-your-food-last-longer/
IDK - it just doesn’t square with me for some reason (just me).
One does see slight reference to health claims in the history books but it is never the central driver and mostly downplayed to bring ‘flavor’ to the top and discussion of early maritime routes, shipbuilding, industry, global expansion etc.
Just my -very- limited research anyway.
If i recall, the spice trade was credited as the initiator of the modern stock market in Denmark(?). But I think there is much more to it than ‘flavor’ being the driver. Dunno - maybe someone else here has a deep-dive.
It was Dutch, not danish,that invented stock in companies. Originally, it was for only one voyage but then was used for large corporations that had multiple ships,like the VOC.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_India_Company
I knew it started with a D but could not recall off-hand 😀. Thx! Haven’t looked into this in some time.
Read this years ago, a pretty good read if you like this kind of stuff.
https://www.amazon.com/Splendid-Exchange-Trade-Shaped-World/dp/0802144160/ref=asc_df_0802144160?
and couldn't adrenocrome be considered a spice? didn't hrc call it 'hot sauce'?
I would not rule it out (adreno) as being a hidden driving factor for the spice trade - I’m gonna focus on pepper for a bit though….
i think you may be onto something. and why couldn't the europeans have mined their own salt? they're surrounded by salt water.
Interesting!!!!! I like your take on rewriting history. I think a lot of history books are incomplete or so sanitized that we can now see through those lies. Thanks for the gray matter tickle-fest.
Archeology and Genetic historians have been infected with DEI dogma over the last 40 years too
Yes, they sure have, and before that it was the rocky-fellers, and before that the people who controlled printing etc.
It is like the historic arc of learning and education keeps getting worse and has been manipulated all the while - since waaaay back.
‘AI’ might allow this to continue on a global scale too.
Damn - I just might go live with the Amish 😀.
It is a rabbit hole for sure on many levels.
In the 15th Century The Shoalin Temple in China, the monks were known for their herbs that healed people.
Body care as well, skin & hair, perfumes to mask body odor...
The wise men gifted valuable myrrh and frankincense to the newborn king.
Also notable:
Frankincense = shown effective against cancer.
Myrhh = shown effective against parasites.
slight follow up - piperine=a component of peppercorns (MAJOR player in early spice trade)=anti-parasitic properties-including MALARIA
Did not know that.
Me neither - just found it. Thought it was interesting considering black pepper was more valued than gold by some people long ago. Has me questioning why, and how far we might have been dumbed down. Not saying it wasn’t an artificial / created commodity bubble like the ‘tulip bubble’ but IDK….. don’t think so. I’m thinking there is value there we don’t quite understand.
Maybe black pepper was the ivermectin of old???
They don't call it the "spice channel" for nothing....
u/#spicy
And drugs, don't forget the word drugs for context.
Roger that - definitely tied into all of this.
I’m still wondering if the good side of it ( medicine / anti parasitic ) was the true driver, if there is one to be identified, and has been hidden from us more so than we know.
Try eating bland food for 40 years, then you might just be willing to brave the rough seas for some peppercorns.
Roger that - agree with that to some extent for sure.
I think it might be something bigger though - don’t really know.
Opium / Humans / usury and those in control of it are factors too of course.
Life changing medicines make more sense to me for some reason and I’m thinking it is related to parasites.
Who knows?
I certainly don't know anything. Only what I read in history books. So unfortunately I'm disinformed rather than uninformed.
We are all there with you👍
Makes sense. Sugar used to be sold in pharmacies, because it was considered to be a toxic substance, or drug.
yes, in earlier times, every local spice's origin had some anti-parasitic property - can't remember the source but someone was presenting their research online re this topic. Any herb called a 'wort' was something that went into beer as a medicinal compound.
Yeah - I’m starting to believe it has possibly been downplayed & rewritten on a massive scale to aid in ushering the current medical industry and hide the parasite link.
You are likely onto something here. Why were “spices” so valuable? Because they were being sold to the elites. What ELSE was being delivered to the elites?
But there is at least one other layer. “Shipping” and “control of ports” has been used for over 4000 years for human trafficking, gun running, and money laundering sometimes openly other times covertly. This is why maritime LAW also disguised as UCC (corporate law) is so important and why it is used against The People.
Look at the history of naval/maritime powers and you likely have generally the history of organized crime and human trafficking. Minoans->Canaanites->Phoenicians->Carthaginians->Venetians->Portugese->Spanish->Dutch (British proxy)->British->Americans (British proxy)->Chinese (British proxy). With some other minor powers in parallel.
Along with all of that we can probably add usury as a tangent.
Thx - will dig some over the weekend!
Note Carthaginians split with some going to Portugal and some going to Venice via Malta/Amalfi. Venetians then went to Amsterdam and made it “Venice of the North” before infiltrating and taking Britain (William of Orange). Venetian split also went to Switzerland. Venetian elites (and others) use/used still existing city-states such as Monaco to hide stolen wealth. There are six of them.
You can also trace via banking centers. Venetian banking center split to Switzerland and Dutch, then Amsterdam financial center moved to London, duplicated in New Amsterdam (now New York City) to ensure British Empire control of American economy. NY State is called ‘Empire State’ because it is basically the British Empire in disguise.
Nice - Thx!!
So did adding black pepper and other spices, as food enhancers, drive this, did illicit activity ( for sure some of it), or did healing ability? IDK…..
It isn’t like people would literally die w/o muh-spices……cause you have to have food first to add any spice…...or is it ……like they might die w/o their ‘spices’ aka medicine?
Some natural spices were used as preservatives prior to refrigeration. All varieties of teas are medicines and used to detox by elites while they poison the people. Effectively, only elites could afford the “antidotes” while they murdered the people in every way imaginable, especially in quasi-feudal societies. Proper nutrition and access to nutrients is THE KEY to a strong immune system and long life. Shipping was used to deliver key items that had “controlled supply” in order to drive up prices and prevent local production. Same mafia method now used with oil and poppies to create “fake scarcity” to keep price artificially high. Same thing over and over.
Take a look at Buddha Teas on http://www.vitaminlife.com, especially the Chaga Tea. Powerful stuff.
Spices DO have health benefits in addition to adding flavor to food. Turmeric, for example, is a widely-beneficial spice (or supplement, usually in the form of curcumin, an extract of turmeric) you can take, with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, pro-cardiovascular health, and many other benefits, which even establishment health "authorities" are happy to tell you.
Nearly every spice in your kitchen has health benefits, and many act as natural preservatives to help food last longer -- a major boon in the days before refrigeration.
Agree wholeheartedly.
My question: How much of it has it been purposefully downplayed, and has an anti-parasitic angle been deflected as well??? IDK??? Just a brain fart that hit me today.
Sounds like a perfectly good brain fart to me. We know that Big Pharma / Medicine / Food / Regulatory Agencies have all been shoving unhealthy crap in our faces and doing everything they can to hide GOOD, HEALTHY things FROM us and to make it difficult to OBTAIN things that benefit health -- and they've been doing this for over a century.
Agree!
They traded spices for sure but the main money maker was Opium!
Agree - for sure.
I’m just spitballing on the theme that spices could indeed be valuable enough to reshape global trade and cause wars if it truly were medicine, more so than we know - or commonly think.
There might be a larger than commonly thought of parasite / medicinal tie-in due to an effort to hide, or at least, downplay those two tie-ins throughout history.
There are certainly two parasites at play within the systems above. Those internal to the body, and those that charge usury on transactions - aka the financial side.
I think the second one (usury group) also initiated and controlled the opium trade to control populations. Maybe somewhat parallel to how they do it with Big-Pharma now, but differently.
How much has been hidden to create the medical-pharma machine?? Rocky-feller had a massive hand in creating the current medical industry.
How big are the two tie-ins???? IDK??
Frankincense = shown effective against cancer.
Myrhh = shown effective against parasites.
Black Pepper = (major player in early spice trading) haven’t dug deep, but beneficial
And on…..
Not to say "medicine" was not traded along with other minor spices but pepper was the main commodity, and it was used for many things including medical reasons. I highly recommend reading the history of pepper. It is inexpensive and excellent dive into trade during history along land and sea trade routes.
Pepper: A history of the World's Most Influential Spice, by Marjorie Shaffer: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Pepper/BGCiDfaFgwUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=A+history+of+Pepper&printsec=frontcover
From web: Known as the “King of Spices”, pepper is and was the most important spice traded internationally." I find conflict with this origin.... most web history say Malabar Coast, but the above book provides evidence that it was actually Sumatra with minor amounts in india. India was actual the trading port, not the origin for most pepper. Early history of India, South East Asia, China, and others, fighting over ownership of Malaysian islands was for the pepper.
Pepper was one the earliest commodities that was traded between the orient and Europe. "During medieval times, black pepper was used to purchase land, pay taxes. A man's wealth was judged by how much pepper he had in his household." Owners of pepper would include pepper stocks in their wills.
The cities of Alexandria, Genoa and Venice carried on brisk trade in pepper during the middle ages. In fact, they owed their prosperity to this priceless commodity. It was brought to Europe via the "silk road" which included spices and silk from China.
Europeans originally sailed to Asia to buy pepper and spread Christianity. From most accounts on the web "Vasco de Gama’s discovery of a sea-route to the spice lands of Malabar Coast in 1498 was triggered by his obsession with spices, particularly pepper. Gama’s feat had two results. One, it gave Portugal a secure monopoly over the spice trade. Two, it destroyed the economies of Alexandria, Genoa and Venice, which were built on the prosperity which pepper had brought them.
Again, this appears to be where pepper was bought or traded, not its origin. Also, Romans were trading for pepper back in 408 A.D. as evident by "... barbarian army led by Alaric the Goth swept into northern Italy from the Balkans and made its way to Rome.... the barbarian demanded the riches of the imperial city, its gold and silver,.....and its pepper." It was used with "other spices" for medical uses and flavoring.
Many a war was conducted trying to gain access/ownership of the plants that would not grow elsewhere. It is said that when threatened to have plants removed to grow elsewhere, the King of islands with pepper told the British "go ahead and take the plants, they won't grow." With modern botanical methods, they now grow in many places with Vietnam and outlying areas producing the most by far. This adds to evidence that it grows best in SE Asia. Two major spices from that area that were fought over are pepper/cinnamon.
After reading about this spice you will want to put pepper on everything!
I linked this above but put it here - quite interesting - piperine in pepper = anti-parasitic
thanks.. didn't know that. Pepper is a very interesting spice.
Yeah, who would have thought……
Found that yesterday. It is seeming like it is another one of those natural compounds that has been labeled by the establishment ‘shows promising results, but needs more study…..’ aka hidden away.
They say that a lot in pub-med for natural cures😀
Thx! Appreciate the info.
I do actually use a lot of fresh ground black pepper (and pink salt) on everything - mainly for flavor.
If you are asking me if I think our Rockefeller medical & Pharmaceutical system is corrupt, profit driven, and is built upon eugenics, then you are correct. Humanity has suffered incomprehensible harms due to the so called “philanthropic” influences of these very wealthy and extremely evil people!
I’d like to understand why “the church” went after women, accusing them of witchcraft. Were they healing people with herbs? One thing this movement has taught me, nothing is as it seems or as it was in history.
Yup - I agree - much has been hidden and distorted.
Just my current weekend rabbit hole: why was black pepper so valuable, worth more than silver and gold, used as currency, responsible for building world trade, first stock market, etc.
Food flavoring? I think not.
Was it life changing medicine that has been hidden? Maybe the Ivermectin of its day? Not really sure if it is that but there must be something more.
So far there is some evidence to support anti parasitic properties of black pepper.
It is also possible pepper was ‘cover’ for other illicit trade. Certainly a component.
The anti parasitic link keeps coming up in current medical ‘newly discovered’ but seldom researched beneficial compounds.
E.G. last weekend I was looking into dimentia & low co-q10 due to taking statins and am thinking the entirety of the cholesterol angle is simply noise to keep the sides fighting. Co-q10 has anti parasitic properties.
So, I’m still poking around a bit in all this - interesting for sure.
Never looked into witches etc. Don’t eat moldy bread from Salem though😀
It was about food.
The drug trade was certainly lucrative but that was the opium trade - not spice.
The idea that it was a cover for human trafficking is laughably moronic since slavery was legal and universally practiced. No need to waste precious cargo space for humans when you can go to war with the Slavs.
Adrenochrome? The elites just bought slaves or emptied their dungeons.
Herbal medicine? They grew medicine in their gardens and fields and they believed in blood-letting, leeches, and had an extensive medical repertoire from the ancient Greeks and Romans. So, pepper and nutmeg as some new fangled panacea makes no sense.
In conclusion, it was about food. Their priorities may seem strange to our present day paradigm… but we also grow up eating Doritos and mass killing babies in the womb. Maybe, prioritizing naturally flavored food is more noble and that somehow seems weird to our degenerate world.
We have literally watched the government-media-pharma complex suppress Hydroxy-Clor and IVM, (add fen-ben) for 3-4 years…….literally watched it!
Think of the hershey bar in your caco-bean analogy (below) as ivermectin at tractor supply for a minute…..
Think about the levels of suppression of information going on right in front of our faces……..literally every day via media (dancing syringes on the tele).
Imagine: 4-bux at tsc may be a cure for many ailments……..and they knew it all along……? They did….
Also of note: Frankencense - anti cancer Myurr - anti parasitic Black pepper- anti parasitic (some links down below / anti malarial)
The parasite angle is still being covered up to some extent in all of the hoopla of covid and the jab - by all sides.
There is a fog of war around it all but there is a pattern not a lot are talking about within the mainstream …..parasites.
At the time of the spice trade we don’t see particularly healthier people or lengthened life spans.
Also, a plethora of anti-fungal, anti-parasitic and anti-cancer compounds grew (and grow) in European herb gardens. And because of Greek and Roman medical history, apothecaries were well aware of these.
Myrrh was valued/expensive because it was rare and unique… just like black pepper, nutmeg and cinnamon in Europe during the spice trade.
I’m not denying the present day suppression of information. But if the spice trade was about something more than flavour and black pepper was really some secret hidden panacea for the elites then why is it in little paper packets for free at McD’s? Because it WAS about food (arguably the most important cultural element in any society).
At a time when people’s meals consisted of a few bare loaves and some salted meat if you’re lucky - maybe some 9 days old pease porridge - seasoning made a huge impact… especially for the elites whose chief entertainment involved banquets. And the local villager who enjoyed his peppered steak at that banquet would then save up his pences to buy black pepper as a luxury item, copying the elites. And he would buy it at a serious price mark up thereby enriching the elites even further.
And don’t get me started on spices for perfumes in a society that never bathed!
Rarity, exoticness, and status. That is what the spice trade was about.
It’s not that difficult of a concept. Even today we pay premiums for luxury items like Single Malt Scotches, Cuban cigars, French Champagnes, Wagyu beef, etc.
I do understand your points and generally agree. It is the mainstream thinking, for sure. It is what we have been taught, for sure. I don’t doubt truth in some / most of it.
I do think, with ancient currency, we may not have a full understanding of the values and how certain things rose above others throughout history.
Some currency may be assigned value based on work, rarity, beauty, function, etc. I think health and longevity might be the most prized though.
My general take is that the more ‘primitive’ the society, the more likely an important function of said currency might exist as the reason for assigning value hierarchy. Certainly not always, but would seem reasonable.
Ramses || was supposedly found with peppercorns stuffed into his nasal cavities. Some bodies recently exhumed at the Cathedral of Notre Dame (post fire) were found to have large amounts of sage (some anti-para qualities). Same body was also observed to have meningitis in the skull (possibly parasitic).
It is a pattern to me at this point. Maybe the ‘space between the music’….
I do think it is an historical thread worth pulling on…
Were the life expectancies of those rich with pepper greater than those without? Likely, and for a myriad of reasons maybe not just the pepper, of course.
Also of note: the cacao / coco we consume and dried (vs fresh ground) black pepper at McD’s have little to no health value. Is that on purpose? Did healthy things get co-opted and mass produced to the populous’ detriment? Definitively, yes. Was it on purpose? I’m thinking, likely.
10 years ago, I did not have any clue about frankincense compounds helping cancer. About fen-ben, or ivermectin’s potential. Yet, they are commonly available and we have witnessed the suppression 1’st hand.
You seem knowledgeable regarding some ancient history. Curious, have you done some deep dives into parasites or the rockefeller established field of medicine, parasites -VS- germ theory and viruses? IDK - thinking there is more there.
At the very least, the topic is a fun thought experiment as long as you step out of the mainstream thinking for a bit.
(Edit): ‘Thought Experiment’ credited to Ørsted was the first modern thinker to explicitly describe and name the thought experiment. He used the Latin-German term Gedankenexperiment circa 1812 and the German term Gedankenversuch in 1820. - via wikki -
He also discovered piperine one of the many beneficial compounds contained in black pepper. I literally just stumbled on that after I had typed the reply and thought it worth inclusion for some reason.
Also, just to clarify: I don’t intend to claim black pepper is a modern day panacea. However, it may have risen to the purported values due to demand from health benefits of the time. Maybe they were dealing with a different ‘bug’ than we and it was quite effective?
The piperine may have been a benefactor of absorption as it is (commonly) today w/ turmeric.
I have not studied parasite vs. germ theory although I am aware of the general synopsis.
I spent most of my teen and adult life studying herbal medicine and other natural remedies. However, my own personal bent has changed over the years of dealing with chronic illness - especially in the last few years.
It’s probably a minority opinion but I believe all illness is due to Sin (corporate Sin and not necessarily individual sins). And much suffering is sent our way for redemptive purposes (both personal and corporate). When one lives at peace with God, whatever suffering comes is always for one’s best. Chasing perfect health is like trying to preserve baby teeth imho, since we will all die and be resurrected to immortality - some to eternal life and some to eternal death - better to focus on one’s permanent metaphysical health.
Personally I can chase the newest health info or look for some new treatment or I can trust that God will bless my bread and water and keep me from harmful poisons by His power. Not that I should tempt Him by consuming non-foods or through gluttony and other sin. And I am thankful for medicines that ease people’s suffering - especially natural ones. However I have seen more, better and real lasting results (in myself and others) from people praying than I ever have from any medical industry (which is ultimately for profit and as fickle and changing as any other industry). The current fads (ivermectin and the like) will change again in a few years and be replaced with smoking cigarettes again or something else - ever chasing perfect health - ever avoiding suffering and its redemptive process. (Incidentally I have, at the behest of loved ones, done all the ivermectin protocols and it was as effective as baking soda in water).
Anyway, thanks for the discussion. Also, when I mention metaphysical health and prayer, I don’t mean any sort of hidden/ancient secrets or gnostic mumbo jumbo. I am simply referring to a living daily relationship with God through Messiah His Son. Nothing fancy. Just simple humble faith - well… as much as He helps me.
Thanks again. God bless you and yours.
Interesting background / knowledge base. I appreciate the debated points.
God bless you and yours as well.
What made black pepper more valuable than gold, which was treasured? More valuable than silver. 1 lb. of black pepper was enough to buy a surf his freedom. Was it an elite ‘fad / trend’ in flavor or preservation of meat? I don’t buy it (just me though).
You don’t buy it because you are out of touch with 99.9% of human history.
Spices like myrrh, frankincense, etc. were all considered precious and more costly than gold.
Remember back in the day when Aztecs used cacao beans for currency… and they even had counterfeits? And now your kids can buy a Hershey’s bar with pocket change.
Ok thanks for clearing that up for me.
Have a nice evening / day.
Note: cocao beans = anti parasitic compounds. Imagine that.
Seems to be a common thread occurring in some of the edible historic currencies and high value herbs / substances.
Does it explain their value at the time? IDK.
I believe the spice trade included drugs and child trafficking.
The Ancients knew of a lot of drugs which included venoms of snakes and scorpions, the snails they used for the purple dye the Phoenicians were famous for was also used as a drug. Most "drugs" were concoctions of many different things. As we know children were used as drugs also (adrenal-chrome). The DeepState is a very ancient cult.
Check out Ammon Hillman [he's a trip, I find him very entertaining]
Ammon Hillman attend the University of Wisconsin–Madison, earning a master's degree in bacteriology, as well as a Ph.D. in classics with a specialization in Ancient Greek and Roman pharmacy. During this period, he spent a lot of time going over medical texts in Latin and Greek, coming across evidence that the Greeks knew about herbal concoctions such as opium, and that they used these substances recreationally.
If interested he has a YouTube page and goes further into this:
LadyBabylon
BEWARE if your a Christian he has a viewpoint you most definitely won't like.
Thx for the info.
I don’t doubt the illicit side of things was going on as well.
The only thing I can think of that would cause such a world change ( i.e. demand by the general populous would be: beneficial / medicinal purposes). I do acknowledge that my view that doesn’t take into account some of the ancient societies’ more nefarious sides.
I think you're asking the right question, Why was the Spice trade so lucrative financially.
I would definitely say it was a drug trade before drugs were illegal and everyone was "hopped up on goofballs", almost all of the ancient cults used drugs, so there was a large demand for them. Frank Herbert author of Dune may have been referring/hinting at this when he called the drug in his books Spice.
Great book BTW….Dune
Never read the others in the series - any recommends?
Could be, but I'd say try going without any spices whatsoever for a year first, then tell me how much they're worth... but I think your idea could have some truth to it as well.
Great theory.