what may or may not be hard reality

So, saffron is the most expensive spice on earth, because it's so difficult to gather. Or cultivate. Or whatever you call plucking the tiny crocus pistils, drying them, and then pulverizing them (or whatever it is you do with them). As a result, while saffron is yummy, it is not used all that often. A few types of bread, the occasional French fish soup, and a few nice spicy stews. (If anyone has delicious saffron recipes, let me know!)

Which brings us to another spice that used *everywhere* (at least when it comes to ice cream). According to an unverified source, true vanilla is the second most expensive spice on earth, after saffron. And yet things that are vanilla flavoured are considered plain, and vanilla is even used as an expression for all kinds of things that are plain or regular and bordering on boring. When did this happen? You'd think the second most expensive spice in the world would be somewhat exclusive and at least have a taste that when eating it is considered special. It's not. Vanilla may be a spice, but adding vanilla ice cream to any other ice cream is like adding water to a drink.

There's no such thing as plain ice cream. Plain ice cream is white and vanilla flavoured. Sure, it's synthetic and not true vanilla in most of the cases, but how come the world's second most expensive spice is referred to as 'plain' anything? Any kind of ice cream you have, and you can combine it with vanilla. You wouldn't use cinnamon, or saffron, for that matter, but sure, vanilla goes with everything, even as it has a rather distinctive taste. How comes? Sure, synthetic vanilla has been commercially available for about 100 years, (did you know that Coca Cola is the largest purchaser of true vanilla in the world, and that Madagascar's economic infrastructure collapsed when Coca Cola started using synthetic vanilla in their coke?) but it probably wasn't that cheap in the beginning.

My point, and I probably don't have one in the end, is that More Vanilla to the People! Really. Don't knock it just 'cause it's everywhere. Try tastin' the vanilla next time. It's a very nice spice all by its lonesome.