In New Testament Times, herbs and spices were very important ingredients of both Roman and Jewish cuisine. Every wealthy home had its herb garden, and the following are mentioned in the cookery books of the time: anise, cumin, silphium, thyme, scallion, bay leaf, basil, fennel, hyssop, rue, mint, parsley, pennyroyal, dill, ginger, cardamom, saffron, and cinnamon. Mary, Joanna and Lydia would have been quite at home in our Stabroek market in Georgetown! The equivalent in those days of our hell-fire sauce and fish tea was called liquamen, a very strong stock made of anchovies, factory-produced in seaside cities such as Caesarea and Tiberias.
Herbs and sauces were very valuable products, and rich Jews were expected to “tithe” or offer them to support the temple in Jerusalem and the levitical professional classes such as scribes, lawyers, teachers and doctors. Jesus did not say that this was wrong. But ridiculed religious leaders because they carefully measured out the proper quantity of herbs and spices but “omitted” the great moral principles of justice, mercy and faith. He was worried about the priorities of religious people who were happy to gain merit by performing rituals, to whom the herbs and spices in their gardens were so much more important than poor and needy people around them.
Apicius was the Roman author of the world’s longest selling cookery book, entitled “Sauces.” Editions were eventually produced for four hundred years. He apparently got into some financial trouble. When the bursar of his estate revealed that he only had ten million sesterces left (about six million USD in today’s money), he took poison saying that it would be no longer possible for him to maintain his accustomed life style!
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One