The Roman Kitchen

[santaman2000]

Folk aren't stupid though; if your food is making you ill, yet your neighbours eating the same produce are fine…..tell me ? who would you suspect ?

M

What would I suspect? Assuming I was an ancient Roman? I'd suspect a curse. I' not sure they'd even make any connection to the food at all if the neighbors eating the same thing were healthy.

 

[santaman2000]

Boatman, where did you get the picture of the Moroccan kitchen from? Id like to use it

(I love Middle eastern food, but Id like also to be able to afford the lamb its made from...)

Try shakshuka; it's a cheap egg dish.

 

[Toddy]

What would I suspect? Assuming I was an ancient Roman? I'd suspect a curse. I' not sure they'd even make any connection to the food at all if the neighbors eating the same thing were healthy.

Ah, no, the Romans were very much more pragmatic than that. They used food testers because poison was suspected, (and at least one Emperor ended that way, Claudius whose foodtester was Halotus, iirc) not a curse, and those who prepared the food were the ones punished if people took ill.
The corollary is that the kitchen staff knew they were likely to bear the brunt so were careful, slaves or not good cooks were valued.

M

 

[tombear]

The Romans certainly knew food poisoning occurred, there's accounts of military units being effected by mass food poisioning such as that caused by bad fish at a fort in Alexandria. They also used various preservation methods so knew that food did go bad.

atb

tom

 

[santaman2000]

Ah, no, the Romans were very much more pragmatic than that. They used food testers because poison was suspected, (and at least one Emperor ended that way, Claudius whose foodtester was Halotus, iirc) not a curse, and those who prepared the food were the ones punished if people took ill.
The corollary is that the kitchen staff knew they were likely to bear the brunt so were careful, slaves or not good cooks were valued.

M

Yes but suspecting poison is quite different from suspecting hygenic causes.

The Romans certainly knew food poisoning occurred, there's accounts of military units being effected by mass food poisioning such as that caused by bad fish at a fort in Alexandria. They also used various preservation methods so knew that food did go bad.

atb

tom

Exactly: mass food poisoning when they were eating the same thing; but the example given was where two neighbors ate alike and only one of them was affected.