The Story of Spice conjures images of tempting culinary arts, fascinating travels to faraway lands, bitter struggles for supremacy and the rise and fall of empires. Judith Jones, along with fellow travellers around the world, discovers the extraordinary story of the world’s most aromatic culinary ingredients. Judith meets historian and author, John Keay, to learn about the origins of spices in the western European world. The earliest known evidence points to the time of Alexander the Great and its invasion of India when he brought spices back upon his return from Asia. Today India contributes two thirds of the global production and Indian cuisine is characterized by the extensive use of numerous spices.