[Sca-cooks] obstetrical food question...

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Jan 27, 2009, at 3:31 PM, jenne at fiedlerfamily.net wrote:

> But, since I can't lay my hands on my copy of Galen On Food and  
> Diet, can
> people suggest some other period/modern 'laxative' foods?

http://books.google.com/books?id=j30JqDTWqFEC&pg=PA294&lpg=PA294&dq=Andrew+Boorde+Diet&source=bl&ots=fzxQ8oUmsH&sig=vWPusPmsUGGe9Mv90E19xaEkcLw&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA299,M1

Or here:

http://tinyurl.com/cfezn6

This'll get you to Google Books and Andrew Boorde's (he was a big  
Galen devotee, as I recall) views on the subject. Among other things  
he says,

"They that hath any of the iiii kyndes of the Idropyses /
must refraine from al thynges the which be constupat and costyue, and  
use all thynges the which be laxatyue /
nuttes, and dry almondes, and hard chese is poyson to them; a ptysane  
and posset ale made with colde herbes doth comfort them."

It sounds like he's thinking in pretty basic humoral terms, with the  
things that open the chest (or in this case, the bowels), versus  
closing them. I thought nuts, being high in fiber, would be considered  
a laxative food, but hard cheese, at least in period viewpoints, is  
definitely not one, so it sounds like he's telling a constipated  
person (that being one form of dropsy) to avoid nuts, dry almonds, and  
hard cheese, in favor of a nice cooling posset...

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