[Sca-cooks] On the poor diet of a son away in the city

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Dec 20, 2009, at 10:03 AM, Daniel & Elizabeth Phelps wrote:

> 
>  Costor vissuti sono un mese e pine
> a noci, a fichi, a fave, a carne secca;
> tal ch'ella fia malizia e non cilecca
> el far si lunga stanza costa' sue.
>  Come 'l bue fiesolan guarda a l'ingiue
> Arno, assetato, e' mocci se ne lecca,
> cosi fanno ei l'uova ch'ha la trecca
> e, col beccaio del castrone, e del bue.
> 
> They have lived a month and more on nuts, figs, beans and dried meat, till it's no joke to stay here all this time.  Jus as the Fiesolan ox looks down at the Arno thirstily and licks his nose, so they at the eggs of the market-woman and at the butcher's mutton and beef.

Funny, when my son was away in the suburbs of a smaller city for a few months, he came home to the big city (for the Thanksgiving break) and we couldn't even go home and drop off his luggage before going out for soup dumplings and fresh vegetables... by the end of the week I was pretty sick of Chinese food, no matter how authentic it was.

He seems a little more flexible in the food requirements this time around; at least we were able to drop off the bags and go to the local pub for steak and such, but the hardships inherent in the absence of, and the protracted longings for, real pizza, bagels, and just about any ethnic cuisine we sort of take for granted here, have apparently been intense.

Funny passage. Citation, if possible? 

Thanks!

Adamantius 






"Most men worry about their own bellies, and other people's souls, when we all ought to worry about our own souls, and other people's bellies."
			-- Rabbi Israel Salanter