Re: [CH] Another cheap easy spread
David Cook (zeb@austin.rr.com)
Tue, 20 Mar 2001 19:29:19 -0600
Sorry, but it's pretty much myth. Ol' Thor was a great adventurer, but not a
real stringent archeaologist. Best documentary evidence shows that chiles
spread into the Far East through contact with the Spanish, Portuguese and
other Europeans. By the 1500's galleons were sailing directly from Central
and South America to Asia and chiles were a staple on board.
I don't have my notes in front of me, but if I remember right the earliest
record of chiles in the Philipines was the early 1500's. Indian texts don't
mention them until 1600's (again working from memory here). China probably
received the gift of El Grande through the Portuguese in Macau. One writer
notes that the propagation of chiles into the Old World was probably as
epochal an event as the discovery of distilling, at least on food habits.
There you go -- chiles and booze -- changing the world.
David "Zeb" Cook
----- Original Message -----
From: "Myron Menaker" <myronm@bellsouth.net>
To: <mstevens@exit109.com>
Cc: <chile-heads@globalgarden.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2001 9:33 AM
Subject: Re: [CH] Another cheap easy spread
> There's another school of thought which has those babies making their
> way to Asia from South America long before Columbus, a la Kon-Tiki,
> across the Pacific in balsa rafts. Thence, thru the various islands to
> the Asian mainland.
>
> Anyone have any additional details....or am I perpetuating a myth???
>