Spices and Exotic Foods in 17th Century Transylvania: the Customs Accounts of Sibiu

This study examines the imports of spices reflected in the customa accounts of Sibiu/Hermannstadt in the seventeenth century. Sibiu was a major trading centre in Transylvania and attracted the most active of the Greek merchant community in the region, therefore we can use its commercial traffic as a good indicator of the offer of Oriental goods in the region. However, it is difficult to assess the overall values of Transylvania’s imports of spices, dried fruits and other foodstuffs based solely on Sibiu’s customs accounts. There were several channels for exotic foods to reach Transylvania. The ruler of Transylvania, Gabriel Bethlen, paid his agents to procure fashionable fineries in fabrics and in foodstuffs. In addition, merchants coming from the Ottoman Empire can be credited with introducing novelty and exotic products onto the Transylvanian and Central European markets. In the 17th century, Transylvania became a meeting ground for the trade in spices and exotic foodstuffs arriving both from the Ottoman Empire and from the West. Mediaeval cuisines across Europe made heavy use of spices, a trend which continued in Transylvania in the 17th century, at a time when it had peaked elsewhere