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Layer upon layer. Nutmeg reveals itself in history; the closer we look, the more we see that its story is a metaphor. Trad says the original metaphor. We look at how the Western world, starting with why and how the Portuguese started to look for the source of Nutmeg, hidden for millennia, on the other side of the world...

Myristica fragrans
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myristica_fragrans

Myristica fragrans https://www.inchem.org/documents/pims/plant/pim355.htm

Pliny the Elder
https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137

History of India: Trade Relations
https://www.britannica.com/place/India/Trade-relations

History of China: Foreign Trade https://www.britannica.com/place/China/Foreign-trade

Banda Islands https://www.britannica.com/place/Banda-Islands

Austronesian Peoples https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austronesian_peoples

Peter Bellwood (abstract) — Austronesian Expansion
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2847094

Constantinople https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantinople

Bosporus Strait https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosporus

Fourth Crusade https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Crusade

Republic of Venice https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Venice

Fall of Constantinople (1453) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Constantinople

Ottoman Empire https://www.britannica.com/place/Ottoman-Empire

Black Death https://www.britannica.com/event/Black-Death

Miasma Theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miasma_theory

Prince Henry the Navigator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Henry_the_Navigator

Caravel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caravel

Age of Discovery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Discovery

Vasco da Gama https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasco_da_Gama

Christopher Columbus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chri

Stay Tuned...this podcast covers seasons following Trade and empathy, Ecstasy and empathy, the empathy evolution of man and much, much more...it's going to be a wild ride. What's more, start with these links above and see where they take you!

Disclaimer
This podcast explores history, chemistry, cultural belief, and speculation.
It does not provide medical advice or advocate drug use.
Nutmeg contains the compound myristicin, which is not MDMA.
Historical medicinal claims reflect beliefs of their time, not modern science.
Some ideas presented are interpretive and are examined critically throughout the series.

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Finally, we meet Trad, Nutmeg's keeper of secrets, a man who has studied the histories and mysteries of Nutmeg for two decades. Trad's dedication has led him down rabbit holes, but he has emerged a changed man...

In Episode 2 of The Secret Story of Nutmeg, Andy follows an idea repeatedly voiced by Trad: “Nutmeg is the original metaphor.” Not just a spice, not just a commodity—but a symbolic lens through which power, trade, belief, empathy, and human pattern‑making can be examined.

As Andy recounts his first long phone call with Trad, the story expands rapidly—from the Banda Islands to ancient trade routes, colonial genocide, and the psychological dangers of pattern‑seeking itself. Nutmeg becomes a stand‑in for larger forces: monopoly, obsession, bravery, knowledge, and the risk of knowing too much.

Along the way, Andy encounters modern retellings of the nutmeg story, this episode wrestles openly with apophenia and confirmation bias and asks where the line lies between meaningful metaphor and dangerous projection.

If nutmeg is the original metaphor, then perhaps the forgotten jar at the back of the shelf is not just history—but a mirror.

Nathaniel’s Nutmeg by Giles Milton —
https://www.gilesmilton.com/historybooks/nathaniels-nutmeg
Nutmeg (historical overview, Banda Islands, colonial period) —
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutmeg
Banda Islands & Dutch conquest —
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banda_Islands
Treaty of Breda (1667) —
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Breda_(1667)
Run / Rhun Island (historical spellings and context) —
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run_(island)
Metaphors We Live By – George Lakoff & Mark Johnson
(foundational work on metaphor as a cognitive framework)
https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo3637992.html
Apophenia (pattern perception and meaning‑making) —
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophenia
Confirmation Bias —
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias
Weird Explorer — Nutmeg (feature‑length exploration)
Independent travel‑history documentary tracing nutmeg from Malaysia to the Banda Islands
https://www.youtube.com/@WeirdExplorer
Portuguese & Dutch spice trade in Southeast Asia —
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Empire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_India_Company
Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus) & Roman world maps —

Stay Tuned...this podcast covers seasons following Trade and empathy, Ecstasy and empathy, the empathy evolution of man and much, much more...it's going to be a wild ride. What's more, start with these links above and see where they take you!

Disclaimer
This podcast explores history, chemistry, cultural belief, and speculation.
It does not provide medical advice or advocate drug use.
Nutmeg contains the compound myristicin, which is not MDMA.
Historical medicinal claims reflect beliefs of their time, not modern science.
Some ideas presented are interpretive and are examined critically throughout the series.

Send us a text

Nutmeg, the spice of life... the source of empathy, its oils that can make MDMA, New York being swapped for the spice's source, its widespread uses, people carrying around nutmeg graters on their persons in the 17th and 1800's...

In the opening episode of The Secret Story of Nutmeg, filmmaker Andy DelVecchio begins an investigation into how a single seed—Myristica fragrans—helped shape global trade, empire, and belief. From plague cures and aphrodisiac lore to colonial monopolies enforced by violence, nutmeg’s true history is stranger than fiction.

The journey begins with a phone call… and a claim that sounds impossible: that nutmeg contains a compound chemically related to substances associated with empathy and altered states of consciousness. Not MDMA—but something structurally connected.

It was reason enough for filmmaker Andy to sink his teeth into the mysteries and hidden histories of a spice he never thought much about until now.

History & Empire

• Nathaniel’s Nutmeg by Giles Milton — https://www.gilesmilton.com/historybooks/nathaniels-nutmeg
• Nutmeg historical overview — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutmeg

Chemistry & Psychoactive Research

• Myristicin chemical overview — https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/.../myristicin
• Pharmacological potential of myristicin — https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34641457/
• Myristicin summary & toxicity — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myristicin

Cultural & Material History

• Nutmeg graters (history & museum context) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutmeg_grater
• Nutmeg graters ( History and musuem context) - https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O78420/nutmeg-grater-unknown/
• BBC Nutmeg: Nature’s Perfect Package (1983) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uLGqpg9TvE

Stay Tuned...this podcast covers seasons following Trade and empathy, Ecstasy and empathy, the empathy evolution of man and much, much more...it's going to be a wild ride. What's more, start with these links above and see where they take you!

Disclaimer
This podcast explores history, chemistry, cultural belief, and speculation.
It does not provide medical advice or advocate drug use.
Nutmeg contains the compound myristicin, which is not MDMA.
Historical medicinal claims reflect beliefs of their time, not modern science.
Some ideas presented are interpretive and are examined critically throughout the series.