Spices is probably too general and all-encompassing to say that spices are now dirt cheap. While, as is true to this day, the wealthy have better access to spices and other garnishes (saffron and truffles aren’t exactly dirt cheap today) but even in Roman times the use of “spices” was not in itself a signifier of class (perhaps more important is which spices). Now in case you think that literary evidence in the form of cookbooks doesn’t provide a broad cross-section of the average Roman Diet, then perhaps you’d be interested in recent analysis of the remains of Pompeii and Herculaneum sewers which show not only that most of the food was made from local ingredients (with the exception of Egyptian Grain, North African dates and Indian Pepper) but also the presence of bay, cumin, mallow from a non-elite apartment complex.
And let’s not forget how easily things go the other way, Lobster was often seen as a poorman’s food, most archeological sits of early human settlements will find a pile of oyster or similar shellfish garbage dumps—it often being the easiest source of food.
Spices is probably too general and all-encompassing to say that spices are now dirt cheap. While, as is true to this day, the wealthy have better access to spices and other garnishes (saffron and truffles aren’t exactly dirt cheap today) but even in Roman times the use of “spices” was not in itself a signifier of class (perhaps more important is which spices). Now in case you think that literary evidence in the form of cookbooks doesn’t provide a broad cross-section of the average Roman Diet, then perhaps you’d be interested in recent analysis of the remains of Pompeii and Herculaneum sewers which show not only that most of the food was made from local ingredients (with the exception of Egyptian Grain, North African dates and Indian Pepper) but also the presence of bay, cumin, mallow from a non-elite apartment complex.
And let’s not forget how easily things go the other way, Lobster was often seen as a poorman’s food, most archeological sits of early human settlements will find a pile of oyster or similar shellfish garbage dumps—it often being the easiest source of food.