History Main / SpiceOfLife

** In the XWingSeries, the Rogues have to talk a glitbiter -- someone who regularly takes glitterstim and shows it - via hologram, and the glitbiter apparently forgets that he's using a hologram. Glitterstim telepathy doesn't work on someone who's aware of the glitbiter's ability and hostile, so because this guy couldn't read Rogue Leader, he got defensive.

** A second type of spice, introduced with glitterstim in the [[Literature/JediAcademyTrilogy]], was ryll, which was more common and named for the Twi'lek world of Ryloth where it was generally found.

* ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'', the TropeMaker. Spice is produced only by the {{sandworm}}s of Arrakis, making the planet the most strategically important planet in the galaxy. The spice [[SuperSerum gives]] various psychic organizations their [[PsychicPowers abilities]], and allows (safe[[labelnote:*]]The actual FTL mechanism itself doesn't require spice, but due to an ancient prohibition on computing power, the navigators need it if they want to get the ship moving within anyone's natural lifetime[[/labelnote]]) use of the setting's manual [[FasterThanLightTravel FTL travel]]. Since it also extends life somewhat, nearly the entire ruling class is addicted to it. And withdrawal is fatal. Painfully. Critics generally see the spice as a metaphor for oil, making the Fremen Space Arabs.

* Quafe can be said to be ''EVEOnline'' drug, despite it being a soda.
* In ''KingdomOfLoathing'', Spices are some of the most valued mundane items. They are rather hard to come by unless you are farming for them, and they are a necessary ingredient for most high-quality foods. The only ways to reliably get them are if you are a Pastamancer with one of the two spirits that can give them, or if you expend a ten-leaf clover (which are themselves pretty valuable and hard to come by) to retrieve some from the sewers.

* Ordinary ginger turns out to be an addictive drug [[spoiler:and aphrodisiac]] to the vaguely reptilian members of the Race in HarryTurtledove's ''{{Worldwar}}'' series. The setting isn't SpaceOpera, but trade ends up developing fast.

** Han Solo is in debt to Jabba the Hutt due to jettisoning a shipment of spice he was supposed to be transporting for him to keep it from being seized by TheEmpire. His spice was apparently some kind of drug.

** Regular spices are prized as much as they were in olden times due to the bland flavor of packaged protein that most space crews eat. Shepherd Book notes, "A man can live on packaged food from here 'til Judgment Day if he's got enough rosemary."

* In ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'': ''Enterprise'' trades a rack of Earth spices for the recipe for [[{{Unobtanium}} Trellium-D]]. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] as the ''Enterprise'' was extremely far from Earth, making Earth spices effectively irreplaceable (and therefore quite valuable). When selling the trader on the deal, Trip references the old spice wars: "On our planet, wars were fought over these."

->''The spice must flow.''

-->--''Literature/{{Dune}}''

* ''{{Dune}}'', the TropeMaker. Spice is produced only by the {{sandworm}}s of Arrakis, making the planet the most strategically important planet in the galaxy. The spice [[SuperSerum gives]] various psychic organizations their [[PsychicPowers abilities]], and allows (safe[[labelnote:*]]The actual FTL mechanism itself doesn't require spice, but due to an ancient prohibition on computing power, the navigators need it if they want to get the ship moving within anyone's natural lifetime[[/labelnote]]) use of the setting's manual [[FasterThanLightTravel FTL travel]]. Since it also extends life somewhat, nearly the entire ruling class is addicted to it. And withdrawal is fatal. Painfully. Critics generally see the spice as a metaphor for oil, making the Fremen Space Arabs.

* The ''SpaceCaptainSmith'' novel, ''God-Emperor of Didcot'' is by and large one long parody of Dune, with ''Tea'' taking the place of Melange. Yes, the brown stuff in a cup with milk and two sugars. Apparently it's what gives the British Space Empire the edge over everyone else.
** Builds Moral Fibre, old boy. Very important.

* In ''StarWars'', Han Solo is in debt to Jabba the Hutt due to jettisoning a shipment of spice he was supposed to be transporting for him to keep it from being seized by TheEmpire. His spice was apparently some kind of drug.
** Expanded on in the StarWarsExpandedUniverse, where it's made clear that "spice," also known as "glitterstim," is a drug from Kessel that makes people both high and (in concentration) mildly telepathic, as well as paranoid and twitchy. "Glit biters" is an in-universe term for people who take the pure form.

* ''StarWarsExpandedUniverse''. Several versions of spice exist, and many, but by no means all, are mined. The most expensive and worst is the "glitterstim" Han was running for Jabba; see the "Film" section of this page.

* In ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', regular spices are prized as much as they were in olden times due to the bland flavor of packaged protein that most space crews eat. Shepherd Book notes, "A man can live on packaged food from here 'til Judgment Day if he's got enough rosemary."
** They are prized as much as a high class chef of the twentieth century would at least. No evidence is given that they are prized as much as they were at the time when people would fight wars for spice.

* In ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'', the ''Enterprise'' trades a rack of Earth spices for the recipe for [[{{Unobtanium}} Trellium-D]]. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] as the ''Enterprise'' was extremely far from Earth, making Earth spices effectively irreplaceable (and therefore quite valuable).
** When selling the trader on the deal, Trip references the old spice wars: "On our planet, wars were fought over these."

** Additionally, the different colors of Spice from different worlds change the speech of the colonist's you put there, and although none of the creatures actually say anything identifiable, the tone and the accent is different. For example: Blue Spice, which is described as a sleep aid, results in colonist with a sort of smooth and relaxed tone. The sour Yellow Spice colonists sound somewhat high strung, and as for Pink Spice... Well, let's just say they sound ..."happy".
*** Only generally. Occasionally colonies, including the homeworld (99.9% of the time, red spice) will have different accents.

** However, there are a number of ''un''reliable methods of getting ahold of spices, so they're not too rare in the grand scheme of things.
* Packaged spices are a Terran trade good in the ''[[VideoGame/{{X}} X-Universe]]'', under the name "Flavor Packs". The text describes actual spices like cinnamon and paprika.
** On the Commonwealth side, we have Stott Spices and Massom Powder.
*** Between the 3 major spice selling powers however, Terran Spices are the most valuable of the flavorings. And the Split and Boron are at war with one to compete as the other dominant spice selling group.

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'', as Future!Mandy uses her "cinnamon mines" to support her tyrannical regime.
** The whole episode is a parody of Dune and it's sequels, with Mandy as an immortal giant-worm God Empress who has had thousands of Billy clones (one at a time) created over the years to serve as her constant companion and UnwittingPawn in her EvilPlan.

[[folder:Comicbooks]]
* In the MarvelComics series ''ComicBook/StrikeforceMorituri'', the alien PlanetLooters find chocolate to be a powerful intoxicant.
[[/folder]]

->''The spice must flow.''\\
-->-- ''{{Dune}}''

->''The spice must flow.''

* In the MarvelComics series ''StrikeforceMorituri'', the alien PlanetLooters find chocolate to be a powerful intoxicant.

-->-- '''{{Dune}}'''

* Non-science fiction example: Spice in ''SlyCooper'' is [[GRatedDrug the equivalent of cocaine]]. Eating it causes the eater to enter an UnstoppableRage. [[spoiler:Arpeggio plans to use the rage caused by spice to fuel his transformation into something akin to Clockwerk.]]
* In the {{backstory}} of ''SwordOfTheStars'', spices are stated to be one of the main trade goods humans sell to the [[BeePeople Hivers]], along with smoked cheeses and other very fragrant foodstuffs. The Hivers have vastly different sensory organs and biochemical makeup than humans, and to them, strongly tasting and smelling food is something of a narcotic.

* ''{{Dune}}'', the TropeMaker. Spice is produced only by the {{sandworm}}s of Arrakis, making the planet the most strategically important planet in the galaxy. The spice [[SuperSerum gives]] various psychic organizations their [[PsychicPowers abilities]], and, as the page quote indicates, is necessary for the setting's manual [[FasterThanLightTravel FTL travel]][[labelnote:*]]More or less. The actual FTL mechanism itself doesn't require spice, but due to the prohibition of computers limited prescience is necessary to make it ''practical'' to use.[[/labelnote]]. Since it also extends life somewhat, nearly the entire ruling class is addicted to it. And withdrawal is fatal. Painfully. Critics generally see the spice as a metaphor for oil, making the Fremen Space Arabs.

* ''StarWarsExpandedUniverse''. Several versions of spice exist, and many, but by no means all, are mined.
** The most expensive and worst comes from the "spice mines of Kessel" mentioned by Threepio and later seen in the JediAcademyTrilogy, where it turns out {{Giant Spider}}s spin it out in their webs. This stuff, Glitterstim, grants one short-lived [[{{Telepathy}} telepathic powers]] if it's pure. Downsides? "Spice mania" as in berserk rage and potentially blindness. Han dumped a cargo of this into space, circled back later to pick it up. Not there.

* ''{{Dune}}'', the TropeMaker. Spice is produced only by the {{sandworm}}s of Arrakis, making the planet the most strategically important planet in the galaxy. The spice [[SuperSerum gives]] various psychic organizations their [[PsychicPowers abilities]], and, as the page quote indicates, is necessary for the setting's manual [[FasterThanLightTravel FTL travel]]. Since it also extends life somewhat, nearly the entire ruling class is addicted to it. And withdrawal is fatal. Painfully. Critics generally see the spice as a metaphor for oil, making the Fremen Space Arabs.

* Ordinary ginger turns out to be an addictive drug and aphrodisiac to the reptilian Race in HarryTurtledove's ''{{Worldwar}}'' series. The setting isn't SpaceOpera, but trade ends up developing fast.

* In ''StarWars'', Han Solo is in debt to Jabba the Hutt due to destroying a shipment of spice he was supposed to be transporting for him to keep it from being seized by TheEmpire. His spice was apparently some kind of drug.

Spices. ''[[SpaceX Space]]'' spices.

* Ordinary ginger turns out to be an addictive drug and aphrodisiac to the reptilian Race in HarryTurtledove's Worldwar series. The setting isn't SpaceOpera, but trade ends up developing fast.

* Parodied in ''TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'', as Future!Mandy uses her "cinnamon mines" to support her tyrannical regime.

* In ''StarTrekEnterprise'', the ''Enterprise'' trades a rack of Earth spices for the recipe for [[{{Unobtanium}} Trellium-D]]. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] as the ''Enterprise'' was extremely far from Earth, making Earth spices effectively irreplaceable (and therefore quite valuable).

** They are prized as much as a high class chef of the twentieth century would at least. No evidence is given that they are prized as much as they were at the time when people would fight wars for spice.