Taste of America

In the story of Chili Peppers (episode #103) Columbus sets out an objective for King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain into the black pepper business. When Columbus sailed to the Caribbean and off the coast of China, the natives showed him chilies; he decided to call them "peppers". He had two good reasons for this explanation. The first one is when it hits his tongue it felt like black pepper. Secondly, he was making profit to find peppers and he continued doing so. Chili peppers were accepted in countries like West Africa, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, etc. But in Europe however, the Turks did not approve. The Turks enjoyed the taste but not the heat. Hungarians decided to ground the peppers to a powder and the results came to paprika. It was their original spice of their country. The most interesting evidence of the video is that scientists believe that people who spicy food are healthier and tend to live longer than people who don't eat spicy food. One point Wolf makes that surprises me and he states "pungent spices like hot peppers, garlic and cumin prevents foods from spoiling in hot climates." The pepper business today is becoming successful and one of the greatest profit market of legal grown cash crops.

In episode #106, the video discusses how the potato saved people during the time of war, poverty and famine. It also discusses how French came up with the idea of "fish and chips" and its rise in America. The potato first came to people in the Andes Mountains of South America. Crops were in short supply because the Mountains were above sea level and the temperatures at night dropped below freezing. The potato was one of the few crops that can be grown at high altitudes. The Andean farmers discovered in the process that potatoes can be freeze-dried which holds nutritional value. Freeze-dried potatoes can live a long duration of time. This part of the video caught my eye because I have never heard of Freeze-Dried potatoes and interested on how they did the process. In 1545, Spanish colonists discovered the Mountain and some were forced to work in the mines. The Spanish settlers found out that the potato was an inexpensive product and fed the workers to keep them alive. Shortly after that the settlers moved to Europe to share their riches and success. When the Dutch was fighting for independence in the 1500's they cut off Spain's shipping lanes. This meant the armies had to supply themselves with food from the countryside and learn how to survive on just that. It amazes me how the army found a way to survive after the Dutch cut them off from their food source. In the 18th century, the potato kept the Irish populations healthy for a short period of time. Between 1846 and 1852, the potato crops began to produce black slime called the potato blight. This became dangerous to the community and 20-25% of the population died from this Great Famine. Most Irish immigrants emigrated to the United