When I behold a fashionable table set out in all its magnificence, I fancy that I see gouts and dropsies, fevers and lethargies, with other innumerable distempers, lying in abundance among the dishes. Nature delights in the most plain and simple diet. Every animal, but man, keeps to one dish. Herbs are the food of this species, fish of that, and flesh of a third. Man falls upon everything that comes in his way; not the smallest fruit or excrescence of the earth, scarce a berry or a mushroom can escape him.
This is a quote by Thomas Addison (1793-1860), a British doctor famous for his description of Addison's Disease.
My favorite quote is from our own beloved Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790):
I saw few die of hunger-of eating, a hundred thousand.
Apparently, man has been eating poorly for a long time. No wonder we live in a state of confusion about food.
"Keep it simple, stupid," can well be applied to the way we eat. A general rule to follow, for those interested, is never to eat anything that has ingredients you can't pronounce.
1 comment:
There are plenty of things to eat that you or I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. But variety in diet is fun .
We are fortunately omnivorous
and can enjoy such a variety not permited by the lesser animals.
How nice to be at the top of the eating chain !
Post a Comment