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In far away places, I've been to spice markets...they are astounding...things you've seen before or heard of; if you do not know the native language, the seller isn't going to be of much help either. Talk about adventure! By the gram, scooped up and put into a handy newspaper cone, like most of the take-away.

Every good kitchen in Europe/ME has a spice mill.

>>I rarely see anyone buying a jar of dry herbs or spices while I wait in the check out line.<<

My theory is that no one cooks anymore, and that's why you don't see people buying spices. LOL

I’ve been to some spice markets myself too in foreign countries, though none in the Middle East or India where I suspect they would be the best. They do smell wonderful and they are great fun!

Here is what I learned to do when traveling or living abroad since I always wanted to find the best authentic food and get to know the culture of a country. This was even more important when I didn’t speak the language.

I would make friends with one or more of the the locals (usually someone who was part of the family at the pension or hotel where I was staying) who spoke the local language as well as English or Spanish (the language I took in high school and college)and ask them if they could reccomend places to go to find authentic food and atmosphere including the open markets, food stalls, etc.

Most of the time they would not only give me their recommendations, but they would also offer to take me and my fellow travelers around their city including the markets, etc. Most people love showing off their own country or city, especially their open air markets and the places frequented by the locals.

Your picture of the spice mill reminded me, that I still need to find a really good quality spice mill to use for my allspice, which we tend to use like pepper in my family. I actually would like to find two small ones, so I could keep one on our family room table where we normally eat our every day meals and one in my kitchen so it would be handy to just grind some straight into the pot while cooking like I do with pepper.

I have tried all kinds of pepper grinders and spice mills for alspice, but none of the ones you can buy here at culinary stores seem to work well for the larger allspice pods. The larger pods just get stuck and I have to dig them out which isn’t to convienent to do when you are in the middle of cooking.

I didn’t even think to look at the Indian market here for one until I saw the picture of the one you posted. I bet they can tell me where I can find one, even if they don’t have one there in the store. Thanks for the idea!