Beloved, fortunate, sweet, and royal; an herb with a long and storied history in Asia and across the world. Called by many names, basil has featured in previous Green Prophet articles, so enjoy another serving, a brief history of basil. Humble yet vigorous, after Greek basilikon phyton or in English “royal plant”. Or basilikon okimon, which is the root of the Latin scientific name Ocimum basilicum.

Tulsi: Revered in India, Embalmed in Egypt

Yet the historical origins of basil are literally “matchless” among plants, the Hindu goddess Tulasi’s name means just that. She’s the namesake for the plant tulsi or as many know her, “holy basil”. Ancient Indians cultivated the peerless plant intensely, seeing her as the goddess Tulasi. Then she spread her roots and legends in every direction out of India. Rooted in romance and royalty, Tulasi is the beloved of the deity Vishnu who Vaishnavites see as the Supreme Being. Just like humanity, basil herself has a deeper origin as plant medicine in the mother continent of Africa.

Various African cultures traditionally use basil for both magic and medicine by various cultures. Herodotus the Greek historian documented her as a component of the embalming process for Egyptian mummies. Despite the proximity to Northern Africa, Greeks basil isn’t from the Egyptians. Note that off the coast of Tanzania in Eastern Africa, basil is mrehani on the island of Zanzibar. Mrehani is a Swahili word, Swahili being an Arabic-flavored Bantu language.

Pho Cups in Vietnam

Instead basil traveled east from India to Southeast Asia. This includes the common use of tulsi in Thai cuisine where it’s called krapow. Thailand also lends its brand to the strongly anise-flavored “Thai basil” called horapha. Horapha and related cultivars are used in Vietnam as well in the popular soup called pho. While tulsi is locally known as selasih in Indonesian, there is a lemon-flavored variety called kemangi. Both kemangi and selasih are common in Malaysian and Laotian cuisines as well.

Tokhm-e sharbati, a Cool Summer Drink

Traveling west through what’s now Pakistan, where sweet basil is niazboo in Urdu. Basil seeds are tukhmalanga soaked in water, creating a widely regionally-popular “cooling” beverage. Basil seeds as a beverage in Iran is tokhm-e sharbati, tokhm-e means “seeds” in Persian much like tukhmalanga in Urdu. Sharbati means a sweet drink like juice or syrup; this is a traditional and popular summer drink. Persia brought basil to West Asia, including the Levant.

In the Levant tulsi took on a new name from the Aramaic word ריחא or richa, meaning “smell” as in a scent. This became the basis for calling her rayḥān (Arabic), rayhān (Persian), and many other variants in Armenian, Azerbaijani, Georgian, Hebrew, Tajik, Turkish, and mrehani in Swahili as mentioned above.

You should not confuse rayhan with “Arabic basil” or habak, which is a mint plant from the mint genus Mentha. Both mints and basils are a part of Lamiaceae, somewhat confusingly called the mint family. Yet basils are from the genus Basilicum, the Latin for basilikon. Most of what we think of as mints are part of the Mentha genus. The wider Lamiaceae family contains many well-known herbs including rosemary, sage, oregano, hyssop/zaatar, thyme, lavender, perilla/shiso, catnip, bee balm, and many more.

From Moorish Romances to Pesto

From the Levant, rihan came to the beautiful volcanic island of Sicily where it became part of local magic, legend, and decor. Basil became basil there through Greek occupation as a calque the Greeks directly translated the Persian name meaning “kingly herb”.

Later on the Sicily, a custom rooted in old legends arose from the later Moorish occupation. Though often gruesome, the Moor’s Head is retold in many forms with both tragic and noble romances. In one such story a local girl falls in love with an invading Moor who turns out to have a family back home. She jealously beheads him, places his head in a decorative planter, then basil grows from it. In another story he’s still an invader but converts to the local religion and settles down to live happily ever after. There are other stories, some more tragic and others less so. Regardless of the story this is why you will find these oddly charming ceramic planters of a North African man and an Italian woman all over sunny Sicily.

And Pistare to Pistou

Emanuele Rossi concocted  pesto alla Genovese in 1852 CE, just over 170 years ago, the first common pesto to use basil as an ingredient. In Italian pesto simply means “paste”, a sauce properly made with a mortar and pestle to bring out the full flavor, based on the ancient Roman herb and cheese spread known as moretum and a more recent Ligurian garlic and vinegar innovation called aggiada. Likewise this is where French pistou originates; whether in French, Italian, or Sicilian we can see the common Latin root pisto/pistare that means “I pound”/”to pound”.

Two More Servings to Come

Delightfully, basil keeps growing vigorously wherever we plant her seeds, even in our heads! In each land the way basil spices up recipes varies as much as basil cultivars themselves.

The post A Brief History of Basil From India to Italy appeared first on Green Prophet.

The orange economy is an evolving concept based on the contribution and potential of creative assets to contribute to economic growth and development.

The creative economy is about translating the inspiration of culture and ideas into high-value businesses and enterprises.  For billions of people around the world their faith is a big source of inspiration and creativity. Artificial intelligence will be a major disruptor of our economy. It will also allow many people to join the ranks of the creative economy like never before. In essence, faith has a role to play in the unfurling of the next chapter in humanity’s economic story.

Indeed, prior to the contemporary era most acts of human creativity, we celebrate today were directly related to divine inspiration. This includes ancient artifacts like the bust of Nefertiti and the Pyramids to Renaissance objects like Michelangelo’s “The Creation of Adam” a fresco which forms part of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican City.

Related: There are more pilgrims to Dubai mall than to Mecca and the Vatican

The recently concluded 4th World Conference on Creative Economy in Tashkent did not deal directly with faith, but attracted diverse individuals from around the globe from supermodel Naomi Campbell who took the stage to a priest who sat in the audience. Faith was even more present in part because the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation, who organized the event in partnership with United Nations Trade and Development and the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy of the Republic of Indonesia, is involved in restoration works around the country.

Religion in many countries is a strategic reserve for what’s called the “Creative Economy.” For example, tourists around the globe include sightseeing to mosques, churches and temples in their itineraries. Similarly, history would suggest the pop stars of tomorrow are today members of youth choirs or similar groups.

“From a historic perspective the creative economy began with religious inspiration in many places. You can see that in very diverse areas from painting and music for example around the world. In a Muslim country [like Indonesia]… we embrace differences and members of other religions bring their own ideas to the development of the creative economy,” said Sandiaga Uno, Indonesia’s then Minister of Tourism.

Orange is a color often associated with the Protestant faith and in Asia with Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism. It is also the color associated with the creative economy to differentiate — it from other macroeconomy buzzwords like the green economy and blue economy.

“This summit is about encouraging the talented people here  not to leave the country. Instead of seeking high-paying positions abroad, we want to attract those jobs to Uzbekistan,” said Uzbekistan Minister of Digital Technologies, Sherzod Shermatov. “Digital platforms can help achieve millions of views globally, enabling monetization and additional income. We aim to create local role models and success stories, and by combining digital tools with creative talent, we can open new doors for our youth.”

The growth and development of the Orange Economy offers a growing and important sector — especially because polls show that from fashion to video games these are sectors in the economy which a growing number of youths see as important to their futures. There are other ways in which the creative economy growth goes hand in hand with the development of faith

“By focusing on creating an ecosystem where creatives can thrive within their home countries—leveraging technology, financial management, and global platforms—[countries] can better capitalize on … cultural wealth and retain talent that might otherwise seek opportunities abroad,” said Felipe Buitrago, Colombia’s former Minister of Culture.

In the past, Buitrago also stressed that the Orange Economy can help build peace and reconciliation between diverse groups. In the past, he has pointed to the example from his own tenure as minister and the example of the Comuna 13 area of Medellín. Here, two rival gangs faced off together with little chance of reconciliation. What ultimately brought these two together was a joint music festival in which the two groups battled it out over competing forms of music (such as rap and reggaeton) in these days.

“Faith is a key element of the creative economy. Because freedom of expression and belief are necessary conditions for creativity,”  Buitrago  said, “You cannot not be creative and non-inclusive at the same time. … Of course faith is a delicate issue and you can’t force people to have certain beliefs but, overall religion has played a major role in fostering creativity. As reinforcing and building identity…which often allows people to cooperate in harmonious ways.”

Looking toward the future faith, creativity and technology will often intersect. The pathway from “prophet” to “profit” will not always be clear. However, creativity, at times fueled by faith, will help spur greater creativity where-in new technologies will allow the visionaries of the future to unlock new possibilities for collaboration, innovation, and mutual understanding more quickly than ever.

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Joseph Hammond is a former Fulbright fellow in Malawi and a journalist who has reported extensively from Africa, Eurasia and the Middle East. Hammond is also an Idove fellow at the African Union. He speaks enough Spanish and Arabic to discuss boxing, a sport he treasures. 

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