Did Europeans Consume Spicy Foods Before the Introduction of Chili Peppers from the Americas?
The quick answer is 'yes'. Europeans were importing pepper and many other 'hot' or curry spices before America was even discovered. They also consumed a lot of radishes and many varieties of onion before that as well as discovering vinegar which is very sour.
Europeans' Spicy Traditions Pre-Chillies
No, Europeans did not have a tradition of spicy foods before chilies were introduced from the Americas. Spices like black pepper, cinnamon, and nutmeg were popular in Europe, but these were not as intensely spicy as chilies. Chilies were first introduced to Europe in the 16th century and quickly became popular as a way to add heat and flavor to food. Today, many European cuisines incorporate chilies and other spicy ingredients, but this is a relatively recent development in culinary history.
Medieval European Spices and Sauces
I learned from Colin Spencer's history of British food that there were two popular sauces in the late medieval period: garlic and ginger. But if you really wanted to spice things up, you used mustard, horseradish, pepper, or pennyroyal. Cloves, nutmeg, mace, cumin, and coriander were all imported in small quantities. Chervil, savory, mint, basil, parsley, chives, and thyme were widely grown.
Mediterranean Spices and Their Usage in European and Mediterranean Cuisine
Paprika, saffron, peppers, albahaca, orégano, parsley, laurel, cumin, nutmeg, and many others were among the most common ways of spicing food in Spanish cuisine before the discovery of America. These are Mediterranean products, most of them very typical of Italian or Greek food too. Some Spanish spices are Middle Eastern from the Muslim period, and almost all are Mediterranean, like in Italian food. Only a few are from the Americas.
The majority of spices come from Asia, mainly South Asia and South-East Asia. Many Asians have traded goods and commodities with other groups of people before the arrival of Europeans. Asia was a destination for spices for Europeans, as they labeled Asia as the spice islands. European colonists often sold spices abroad or took them in exchange for other goods with other colonists, making spices highly in demand.
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