A Spice of life in the Speicherstadt

A visit in english

There’s no denying it: reality shows have taken over television. There is Big Brother, DSDS (Deutschland sucht den Superstar) and Germany’s Got Talent.  But now the trend seems to have shifted from talent on the stage to talent in the kitchen, as cooking reality shows fill up the evening time slot. Turn on the television on any given evening and you will see Kocharena, Das Perfekte Promi Dinner, Die Küchen Chefs and Kochduell.  Germany’s newest fascination with food!
We watch these shows and become inspired.  We run to the supermarket or organic market to purchase all of the ingredients in the hope of creating culinary masterpieces of our own. We are satisfied with our results and have a sense of accomplishment when we are able to cook like the celebrities we watch.  

But a recent trip to the Spicy’s Gewürzmuseum GmbH in the Speicherstadt gave me a new appreciation; not for what culinary masterpieces I can duplicate in the kitchen, but for  the spices and seasons sitting in little glass jars on my  spice rack and in my cupboard and the amount of work it takes to produce them. For example: Did you know that it takes 100,000-150,000 handpicked flowers to make one kilo of saffron? And that vanilla belongs to the orchid family and is considered to be  the queen of all spices? Or that curry is a mixture of many different spices?

The museum is located at Am Sandtorkai 32 in the Speicherstadt.  As  I  climbed the stairs to the second floor, I had the feeling that I was being transported back in time. The narrow staircase which led to a heavy steel entrance door squeaked as I opened it to enter the museum . Once inside, I was greeted by two friendly members of staff and, after paying the entrance fee of 3.50€, I was given a brief description of the museum (for me) to read in English and a free sample packet of black pepper. The atmosphere in the room gave me the feeling of an old traditional warehouse. Its old wooden floor, soft lighting,  metal spice boxes, and the sacks filled with spices welcomed me into the history of the Speicherstadt.

As I entered the room, my senses were filled with the many different spices sitting  in open  burlap sacks displayed throughout the exhibition. There were colorful pictures hanging on the walls depicting the processes involved in the harvesting  and shipping of the raw product before it is commercially packaged. Accompanying the pictures were written explanations and facts about the different spices, their cultural origins and botanical names.  A huge basket large enough to stand in was lying on the floor once used to lift large sacks of spices to upper floors. It reminded me of just how much physical labor is involved in the production of spices, something I take for granted when I go to the supermarket.

As I walked around the large room I could see various machines and scales once used in the shipping of the spices around the world. There was a huge wooden bin with canvas shoots attached to it from above  called  “the vacuum cleaner”.  It was used to suck the ground spices into large open sacks.  
It was also an interactive exhibition,  where I was encouraged to pick up the spices, feel their texture and smell them just as they had done for hundreds of years in the past in market places throughout the world.  In one section there was a sign encouraging visitors to open the small apothecary bottles and smell the oils that were produced as a result of the spices being crushed by huge grinding hammers. I even saw a few visitors sampling the curries on display to see if they could tell the difference between them.

As  Germany continues to enjoy reality cooking shows, one way to gain a deeper appreciation for cooking is to visit this Spice museum. The whole experience gave me a new, or moreover, a renewed awareness of the world of spices and their different cultural origins.