Starting with just one spice- Pragati Turmeric-the company now offers 30 single-origin spices from 150 farms across India and Sri Lanka. So in 2017 at 23, Javeri Kadri founded DiasporaCo. website, “farmers made no money, spices changed hands upwards of 10 times before reaching the consumer, and the final spice on your shelf was usually an old, dusty shadow of what it once was.” She was shocked to find out that in 400 years, not much has changed.Īccording to the DiasporaCo. It was this sense of place and respect for the originators of spices that led Javeri Kadri on a 7-month journey back to India to everything she could about the spice trade. “I started researching the spice trade and discovered that most of the turmeric was a blend, with no sense of place or respect for the people that grew it.” was nothing like the turmeric I’d grown up with in India,” says Javeri Kadri. “ Turmeric was suddenly everywhere, but the bland stuff being sold in the U.S. founder Sana Javeri Kadri was born and raised in postcolonial Mumbai.Īfter studying food justice in college, Javeri Kadri was working in marketing at a thoughtfully-sources San Francisco grocery store called Bi-Rite. They ethically source high quality spices, pay farmers fair trade wages, and honor the cultures where these diverse seasonings are sourced.Īnd the spices you’ll get from DiasporaCo.
While it may be hundreds of years later, the repercussions of a colonized spice trade remain. ranking as the top importer of spices worldwide. Often the result of violent struggle, control of spices was transferred from the farmers who grew them to the European powers of the time.Įven today, spices are still a major economic force.Īccording to data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), the spice industry had a total trade value of 3.61 billion U.S. This made India a prime target for conquest.Īlthough the spice trade in India existed long before the 15th century, explorer Vasca de Gama’s arrival in what is now the coastal Indian state of Kerala in 1498 marked the beginning of the European race to dominate the industry. Spices were nothing short of an economic stronghold for whoever controlled these flavorful herbs, roots, and seeds. However, the spice trade played a major role in drawing colonizers to diverse parts of the world. When it comes to colonization, you may not immediately think of kitchen spices.
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