[Sca-cooks] Metal Poisoning from the fork

[JIMCHEVAL at aol.com]

I quite agree. But that's not a Biblical prohibition; it was what one might 
 call "strategic". He didn't cite Biblical passages because his point 
wasn't that  it was prohibited by the Bible, simply that it was of dubious 
association. He  could hardly have referenced the passages cited because those do 
not single out  horse or hare, but in fact also forbid meat like pork; it is 
very unlikely then  that he had those in mind. But it's also true that pe
ople of Latin culture  (which Zachary, though Greek, was) simply disapproved 
of eating horse and had  for  centuries:

http://leslefts.blogspot.com/2013/12/killing-pegasus-history-of-horse-meat.h
tml

So  part of this is simply cultural.

Anyway you cut it, Zachary did not cite  a Biblical source himself and it's 
hard to reconcile the Church's shifts on  these two foods with any 
consistent Biblical injunction. Centuries later, the  monks' table blessings at St. 
Gall included thanks for "the sweet meat of wild  horses".


Note by the way that for a long time it was forbidden to fast on  
Saturdays, which were viewed as the Jewish Sabbath. Then, all of a sudden, after  the 
tenth century, fasting on Saturdays became obligatory; and in theory still  
is:

"Though the Roman Pontiffs have constantly refused to abrogate the  law of 
abstaining on Saturday, special indults dispensing with the obligation  have 
been granted to the faithful in many parts of the world."
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01067a.htm

Again, which corresponds to a Biblical injunction? If  either.


Jim Chevallier
www.chezjim.com

Beyond Apicius (2):  recipes from other Roman  sources
http://leslefts.blogspot.com/2014/05/beyond-apicius-2-recipes-from-other.htm
l







In  a message dated 5/14/2014 12:18:19 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, 
cmupythia at cmu.edu  writes:
A quick google book search strongly suggests that Zachary's  prohibition 
had to do with the practice of non-Christian German tribes of ritual  horse 
slaughter with a feast following.  The theory being "pagan practice =  bad", 
he forbid it in an attempt to differentiate converted Germans and prevent  
backsliding.