Chapters 1 & 2

After reading chapters one and two I am now aware of things I wasn't before. I am not much of a history buff, so most of this stuff comes as a first time learning about it. I find it interesting that cloves, nutmeg, and pepper were used for the items that they were. Some things I wrote down as I was reading was that cloves were often used as a breath freshener and the oil from those cloves were used as an antiseptic and remedy for toothaches. Nutmeg was used for stomach pains and the help of preventing the outbreak of plagues. There was a lot of work and trouble for the search and collection of these items back in the day. Now a days we take these things for granted. I don't think many of us realize what some of these items are used for and how they react in our bodies. I love to learn new things and even though I am not much of a reader, I was able to take a lot out of these first two chapters. I now know how to pick out a pepper if I want it spicy or hot. The first thing that caught my attention was how the book related what peppers are made of and how they react with our body, and it all has to do with the chemical make-up of the pepper. Chapter two was fasinating when it was discussing lemon juice/citrus fruits and how it is a cure for scurvy. Most of our natural items in this world provide what we need to cure disease, eat, and live a prosperous life. Everything we need is located in several locations all over the world.