The book I wanted so long to be
reunited with is finished. In the Devil’s Garden by Stewart Lee Allen is
excellent. It covers the religious and moral taboos of food from the Cavemen to
Roman Empire, From the Estrucians to the middle Ages, From Pope Pius to 1999,
if someone thought it was wrong to eat something or bad to kill, it’s probably
covered in this book.
The book is broken into 7 chapters;
one for each of the Seven Deadly Sins. Here’s a fun food taboo fact from each
chapter:
Chapter One: Lust Because of how closely in resembles a mummified person, the
Mandrake was considered taboo, because people though the root was God’s first
attempt at creating people (well that, and the fact people thought when you
pulled the “Man” up, he gave off a terrible scream that drove the puller mad).
Chapter Two: Gluttony ever heard of
the dish Trojan Pig? It was an outlawed dish in Rome (circa 76 A.D.). It was
made by roasting an entire steer, stuffed with a lamb, which is stuffed with a
swine, which is stuffed with a chicken. (pg. 50)
Chapter 3: Pride One theory as to the
rise in Diabetes is the development of high yield (and thus high sugar content)
corn, which makes the breakdown of insulin harder and the eater more diabetic.
Chapter 4: Sloth John Barleycorn was
the name given to Alcohol during the 19th and early 20th century. He was
thought to be the laziest, meanest man in the world, thanks to all the whiskey
that flowed through his veins.
Chapter 5: Greed Kuru, or laughing
man’s disease, is an ailment found in cannibals in the Congo and New Guinea.
It’s obtained by eating the brain of a human which contains over-active
proteins called prions. This disease is the human version of mad cow decease.
(This chapter actually has 2 facts that I had to include: it is believed that
AIDS will continue to spread in Africa not because of sexual activity, but
because of the delicacy of eating primates, which is causing not only the
extinction of monkeys but Africans as well) (pp. 162-164).
Chapter 6: Blasphemy it was a common
practice of Catholics in the medieval times till the 1800s to disguise food not
allowed to be eaten during Lent to look like food allowed during the holy fast.
The thought behind this: if it didn’t look like the forbidden food, it was not
a sin to eat. Examples: A pheasant lined with almond scales to look like fish
and egg shells stuffed with white and yellow almond paste.
Chapter 7: Anger The Aztec’s created
smoke bombs to attack Cortez and his Spanish Armada by launching sacks filled
with flaming peppers, which give of a potent and sometimes fatal smoke.
If these facts whet your appetite,
you are in for a rare treat. Allen’s book makes gross things seem yummy. I
didn’t get nauseous once, though some sections in the Lust chapter get a little
steamy (and I’m not talking Brussels sprouts). There are several great looking
recipes in here as well as fascinating history. Be sure to check out the
Endnotes section as well. It’s not the normal endnote fare and has a lot of
stuff not covered in the main body of the book.
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