28

Is it because before it was used as a drug, it was used for flavoring food?

Both in- and out- of universe answers are welcome!

congusbongus
  • 5,111
  • 5
  • 29
  • 55

3 Answers3

39

As noted in the Dune books, melange looks and smells much like cinnamon so "spice" would be an obvious name for it.

Out-of-universe, I always assumed Frank Herbert wanted to suggest something exotic and precious, as spices were in medieval Europe. There is a fascinating discussion of medieval use of spices here.

Spices were highly prized and very expensive: In London in 1438, a pound of pepper was more than two days' wages for a skilled worker, or very roughly $500 in modern terms. This isn't quite in the same league as melange (a briefcase of which is said to be enough to buy a planet) but it's not cheap either.

Making 'spice' the commodity of choice also ties into the vaguely "medieval" feel of the Dune universe, with rival families headed by Dukes and Barons, hand-to-hand combat with swords, etc.

Valorum
  • 689,072
  • 162
  • 4,636
  • 4,873
Royal Canadian Bandit
  • 36,854
  • 8
  • 120
  • 142
  • I have heard about the allusion to the spice trade too; has Frank ever confirmed this theory though? – congusbongus Apr 02 '14 at 12:04
  • 2
    In the medieval era (before seagoing trade routes opened up after 1492) Europe obtained its spices from the Middle East and North Africa. This is one of the many Arrakis/Arabia parallels in the books. – Royal Canadian Bandit Apr 02 '14 at 13:04
  • 3
    For FH, the spice was more a metaphor for petroleum: "In his interview with OMNI, Herbert explicitly identified CHOAM with OPEC, equating the spice melange to oil (it should be noted that OPEC did not become notable as a political power until after the publication of the first novel)." dune.wikia.com/wiki/Dune_(novel) – Royal Canadian Bandit Apr 02 '14 at 13:06
  • Also, while I don't have citations, in medieval Europe spices were thought to have medicinal properties, prolong life etc... – DVK-on-Ahch-To Apr 02 '14 at 13:12
  • 1
    @DVK: Yes, there's a table halfway down the article I linked to. Although the claimed health-giving properties are fairly modest (help the digestion, ward off colds, etc.) in contrast to melange. – Royal Canadian Bandit Apr 02 '14 at 13:40
  • 2
    Using roughly Googled values that a briefcase holds 26 litres, the density of saffron is 0.14g/cm^3 and its value is $7000/kg, a briefcase of saffron would be worth about $26000. Not quite enough for a planet, but much more than gold. – dbmag9 Apr 02 '14 at 15:26
  • @dbmag9: It's not really "more than gold". The price of gold fluctuates wildly but right now it is about US$45000/kg. And gold is a lot more dense than saffron. One cm^3 of gold weighs 19.3 g, so the briefcase holds about 520 kg of gold, worth over $23 million. The briefcase full of gold is a lot more valuable, although you would need a forklift to carry it around. :-) – Royal Canadian Bandit Apr 02 '14 at 15:36
  • Spices are still quite expensive. Think about it: we buy a couple ounces for cooking or flavoring food with at least $5-$10. It's probably not as expensive as it was in medieval Europe or especially in Saudi Arabia at that time, where salt was literally worth its weight in gold (see the classic children's game Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?), but it's still expensive. – trysis Apr 02 '14 at 18:20
  • 2
    @trysis You buy it for $10 because company puts a big markup on it. It's not actually that expensive to procure, if you bought it in bulk from a large supplier you would pay pennies per ounce. – Superbest Apr 03 '14 at 05:50
  • My apologies, I think I heard that from a teacher one time or something. I've never had to "procure" it, but really, cents to $10/ounce? That's some markup, even phone companies would kill for it. – trysis Apr 03 '14 at 06:31
  • This article is a little out of date (2009) but says wholesale pepper is about US$3200/ton, or roughly $3/kg. Supposing you could buy it retail for $3/50g it's a 20-fold markup, which sounds about right to me: – Royal Canadian Bandit Apr 03 '14 at 08:24
  • Sorry, link to article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/6122137/Drought-spices-up-price-of-pepper.html – Royal Canadian Bandit Apr 03 '14 at 10:11
  • The cost of a small container of spice at the grocery is more supply and demand than "procurement cost". Most people want only a few ounces of any spice, and they want it infrequently. Suppliers can produce it at massive quantities, but that is only so they can package it according to market demands and sell it to cover all their costs and make a profit. If everyone wanted tons of spices, rather than ounces, the price per unit would be completely different, since demand would be completely different. –  Apr 24 '22 at 13:05
1

Well, it's literally used as an additive in food (and beverage IIANM), like a spice. And it comes in powdered form, like a spice. And there's the exotic nature of it, which @RoyalCanadianBandit mentioned - also shared with spices traditionally. So, there you have it.

On the other hand, spices are supposed to be of vegetable origin, which Dune's spice isn't.

einpoklum
  • 10,061
  • 7
  • 44
  • 103
  • Salt is generally considered to be a spice, and is even less of vegetable origin than melange is. – Mark Jul 10 '21 at 02:12
1

"Melange" is a french word, that means "mixture" or as people in India would call it "masala". I think he just took the indian word and translated into another language, he probably chose french to add some particular effect to the actions in the book. The Houses on the spice planet being similar to french nobility struggle for power through the rights to commercialize exotic products.

It is a "link", symbolizing the product, it's target market and the trouble that surrounds it one package. Everyone wants some.

unom
  • 119
  • 2