Odoric was a fourteenth-century traveler to China. You can find more at www.romanization.com/books/
The first poster used the name to get my attention. (LOL! And thanks for the kind words about my site, esp. since it’s still so obviously unfinished.)
How could I refuse such a request? I’ll try to get the chapter posted tonight. There’s not much about pepper, though there is more info about sacrificing virgins to idols &c.
OK, pepper lovers, chapter three has been added. And I gussied up Odoric’s area a little. (I love CSS.)
Back in those days, many spices were literally worth more than their weight in gold. I’ve read that China got lajiao from the Portuguese. I wonder what people in Sichuan ate before then.