I just had a really hearty meal of curry tonight for dinner, and was just wondering, why is curry not more widespread in China? Given the close proximity of China to the spice producing SE Asia, and there's a lot of different spices to be found in China as well, why is it that the Chinese never aquired the taste for curry? I love it myself, but a lot of my Chinese friends just don't.
How important was spice to the Europeans during the great spice trade, where even today, 1kg of saffron is still more expensive than 1kg of gold. Was it because the Chinese already had their own ways of using spices in their cooking, while the Europeans don't?