[Sca-cooks] Re: Yes, it's gross, but I'm curious . . .

[Phlip]

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

> I used to subscribe heartily to the desperation or desperation theory
> of "who the hell ate that first?"
>
> However, to more food traditions I see, the more I think many culinary
> oddities are part of a less radical evolution.  We are simply missing
> enough links to get left with a platypus.  We know enough of the
> history of, say, black pudding, to know where is comes from.  However,
> on it's own, we'd be left with, "Brits eat congealed pig's blood...
> ewww."
>
> Ok, it's still an ewww.  Never mind.
>
> On a side note, I once saw an African cook book that used dung as an
> ingredient.  No joke.  Any thoughts?

Well, there's also that recipe, discussed here quite a while ago, for a
medicinal for pregnant women using horse manure.

I think, too, that Medieval people were much less inclined to the "ick"
factor, regarding elimination products. I was discussing diabetes with an
MD- was it you, Avraham? Or was it Bill? wherein the diagnosis for diabetes
was made by having the physician taste the urine of the afflicted party- if
it was noticeably sweet, it indicated diabetes. This, in actuality led to a
discussion of type I vs type II diabetes, which, other than the sweetness of
the urine, present as two different diseases, with two different etiologies.
It seems that the common name of the disease, diabetes, is actually a
hangover from Medieval times ;-)

Saint Phlip,
CoD

"When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
 Blacksmith's credo.

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....