Italy: Pasta with Long Pepper, Smoked Bacon, and Cream
The lexicon of European spicery is a work constantly under revision. Over many hundreds of years, spices, herbs and seasonings have slid in and out of the continent's food consciousness -- dragged into the region by excited explorers, becoming the focus of fads and crazes, and then falling out of favor again when people get bored with them or when something better or cheaper comes along. In one century, a traveler might range from Stockholm to Sicily and keep running across the same ingredient in dish after dish: but a hundred years later, a similar traveler with his predecessor's journal in hand might never see the ingredient at all.
The spice called long pepper would be a good example of this. Its botanical name is Piper longum, and it apparently hails originally from Bali (though there are some who say its origin was Java). Once upon a time, it was the hottest spice in Europe -- significantly hotter than the regular black peppercorn. The Romans loved it, and used it in all kinds of meat dishes and even in desserts: its pungency has a sweet quality that goes well with fruit. It was also an ingredient in some magic spells -- specifically the one for making that nasty object favored by burglars, the Hand of Glory. And anyone who sees the spice in its whole form will understand immediately that some people thought it'd make a terrific aphrodisiac.
But in the mid-1600's, something happened, and long pepper suddenly began falling out of the European food vocabulary. There were of course no newspaper headlines shouting announcing why, so food scholars have had to fall back on circumstantial evidence to explain the change. Certainly the records of the time do confirm that the price of long pepper dropped significantly during the 17th century. But something else started happening around then. The chili arrived.
US sources for long pepper:
Post to Twitter