You do realize he's right, or at least partially right. Equatorial countries have much more spoilage due to higher temperatures which is part of why they season their food so heavily, to cover up for it going bad. Europeans are no different, they were so motivated to import spices for the same reason, to cover up their own food spoilage.
Exactly. Asian food comes spicy because they used to use spice to try and disinfect their food. It's for lack of hygiene that they got into spice.
You do realize he's right, or at least partially right. Equatorial countries have much more spoilage due to higher temperatures which is part of why they season their food so heavily, to cover up for it going bad. Europeans are no different, they were so motivated to import spices for the same reason, to cover up their own food spoilage.
I was told by a food scientist that Mexican food has so many spices because of this very reason. I assume it's true for other hot climates as well.