Gabriele Dionisi, a 38-year-old Italian computer wizard living in Wapping, East London, is a true individualist when it comes to food. He has been known to live for days on dry toast and Smash. He’s also very fond of tinned mackerel with Rich Tea biscuits, washed down with, say, an apple-and-tomato milkshake. For some unfathomable reason he sometimes has problems with his guts. And then he makes himself a hot cup of camomile tea with honey and half a spoonful of chilli flakes. “It’s an old Italian recipe,” he says. “My grandmother taught me to make it. It’s very good for the digestion.”
Spices such as chilli have been used for medicinal purposes in Europe for centuries. Medieval herbalists believed that spices could be used to treat a range of pains, diseases and ailments. Sometimes they got it right; sometimes they were way off the end of the spice rack. For example, they used to pound up cloves to extract the oil, which was used to treat toothache. Sensible move: modern scientists know that cloves contain eugenol, a chemical which is an effective local anaesthetic. Cloves also contain salicylic acid, the basis of aspirin.
Ginger was held to be good for stomach upsets, and it is now known to have anti-nausea properties. It is also believed to have a painkilling effect, which is being studied at the University of Arizona. Unfortunately, those muddled medieval medics also believed that ginger was a cure for the Black Death — it isn’t — and that eating borage would give you courage, just because the words rhymed.
When the European herbalists’ ancestors were still painting their bottoms blue with woad, Ayurvedic doctors in India were using spices as medicines. “They understood that spices could be used as remedies,” says Cyrus Todiwala MBE, the 49-year-old proprietor and chef of the gourmet Indian restaurant Café Spice Namasté, in East London. “Their motto was: Let food be thy medicine.”
The chef’s favourite medical spice is turmeric, the yellow ingredient used in almost all Indian cookery. “Turmeric is an antiseptic and disinfectant, and it is used widely not so much for its taste but for its antibacterial properties,” he says. “It’s also a very good antiflatulent — as is cumin.
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“Turmeric is used in Indian homes as a first-aid treatment. For example, if you had a small cut on your finger, you’d run it under the tap and then dust the wound with turmeric. It is also supposed to be a cure for arthritis and scientists are now researching its potential ability to supress the growth of cancer cells.”
In 2002, staff at the oncology department of Leicester University noticed that of 500 patients with colon cancer, only two were Asian, despite that fact that 20 per cent of the population in Leicester is Asian. The scientists believed this was due to their spicy diet. And, in America, researchers at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons are investigating Zyflamend, a herbal treatment for arthritis, which contains turmeric and ginger. “Zyflamend has shown an ability to reduce prostate cancer cell proliferation by as much as 78 per cent and induce cancer cell death,” says Professor Aaron Katz.
Studies at the Indian Institute of Science, in Bangalore, suggest that curcumin, the chemical that gives turmeric its yellow colour, might also help to treat malaria. Mice were infected with the malaria parasite Plasmodium berghei and given five daily doses orally. After 20 days, a third of the treated mice were alive, whereas the untreated animals all died by day 13.
For a man who makes exquisite curries for a living, Todiwala is surprisingly unenthusiastic about chilli. “If you want to know what chillis do to the body, cut open a fresh chilli and hold it on the back of your hand for 15 or 20 minutes. It will make the hand red and sore. If you eat it in excess it can give you gastric problems.” But he does grudgingly admit that, as Dionisi’s grandmother knew so well, in small doses chilli can aid digestion. Still, he uses it only sparingly.
On the other hand, Phil Lynas, the managing director of the grocery arm of Nando’s chain of chicken restaurants, is a huge fan of spicy food. “Chilli contains vitamins A and E and is a good source of potassium, beta-carotene and folic acid,” he says. “Also chilli contains twice as much vitamin C as an orange and it really can help to protect the body from colds and flu.” One chilli does contain 100mg of vitamin C, more than the daily recommended amount. And capsaicin, the chemical in chillis that gives them heat, is also a natural decongestant.
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The pleasure of chillis comes from the pain of eating them. Literally. The burning sensation in the mouth triggers the release of endorphins, an opiate-like painkilling chemical, in the brain. This makes you feel good; so good, in fact, that it is possible to become a chilli junkie.
In the light of this, perhaps the late Signora Dionisi should have taught her favourite grandson how to make something other than chilli camomile tea. Maybe real food. Fortunately, Gabriele has discovered Café Spice Namasté and he has become a huge fan of Todiwala’s cooking. His favourite dish? Tandoori ostrich.
Cyrus Todiwala’s spice remedies and many of his restaurant’s recipes can be found in International Cuisine: India, a textbook written by him for cookery students, to be published by Hodder & Stoughton (£19.99) on May 1
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NATURAL REMEDIES