It was built as a monument to Vasco da Gama's successful voyage to India and was funded by a tax on eastern spices.

He smelled of some eastern spice.

It was dubbed the "City of Spices" for its role as the major trading point of eastern spices during the Middle ages and probably as early as Classical antiquity.

Like many eastern spices, pepper was historically both a seasoning and a medicine.

Profits came primarily from trading in eastern spices, silk and porcelain, African gold, and slaves, as well as through importing copious sugar from Brazil and São Tomé.

The runners-up included the mango chicken (yes, real mango with chicken strips, bok choi, onion and sweet red pepper), and the beef randang (hefty chunks of tender meat, marinated intensely with eastern spices).

The family's wealth had begun with a spice monopoly, and the eastern spices usually came through Bassania, north or south.

Until the Portuguese breakthrough into the Indian Ocean, the supply of eastern spices to European consumers had been largely in the hands of Republic of Venice.

The French defeat even allowed Venice to become the biggest market for eastern spices.

During classical antiquity and the Middle Ages, Kozhikode was dubbed the "City of Spices" for its role as the major trading point of eastern spices.