Pati, a regency known for its cuisine Ikan Manyung or Sea Catfish, became a crucial point of the Spice Routes. Aside from taking a role as a transit port that connected the regions in Java in the spice trades, through Juwana, Pati was the center of rice distribution, traded with spices from the eastern part of Nusantara. 

Pati was strongly connected to Jepara in the spice trade in the past. When the ports in the Pati regency started to attract a lot of people, they started to consider Jepara as a strategic location, after the arrival of the Dutch. Eventually, Jepara was turned into a trading post. 

The spice trade in the past left some footprints in many sectors, such as culinary, religions, buildings, cultures, and the arts in Pati and its surroundings.