March 15, 2004

Did dishes cause the fall of the Roman Empire? Throughout history, people have been affected not only by what they eat, but what they eat from. While Romans and Beethoven may have been affected by lead poisoning from their dishes, some claim colloidal silver, which causes argyria in large quantities, saved the aristocracy when bubonic plague hit Europe. With all the problems even from more recent times, you'd think we'd have learned our lesson. Unfortunately, even today, we still need to worry about both our food and the plates we put it on.
posted by musingmelpomene 20 years ago
  • God, you should see how much lead paint and plumbing there still is in France. PS
  • Good post. Nice group of interrelated links there. Will go through all of them as soon as I'm able ie, once colleagues stop peeping over my shoulder. I always thought the term "saturnine gout" was very appropriate. Lead consumers are literally "eating" their children, since by consuming lead-laced food and drink, they in effect are preventing themselves from producing offspring.
  • Romans also used powdered lead as a food additive - to sweeten their foods. They didn't have sugar as we know it. Silly Romans.
  • Why on earth didn't the Romans use honey? These Romans are crazy.
  • That silver woman was pretty cool. I think I saw her in a RHCP video a few years back.
  • tracicle: What I guess might be is that honey was used, to sweeten wine and probably used in dishes as well. But I think lead might not give that slightly sour aftertaste that honey and most natural sugars have. Also, honey doesn't cook so well, unless mixed in well with other ingredients, such as in pastries. It tends to caramelise fairly quickly.
  • Honey's natural disposition towards caramelizing has caused me no end of grief in my cooking. This lead stuff sounds great! Can anyone tell me more?
  • This is a brilliant post. **puts silver spoon back in mouth**
  • **reads next link, throws silver spoon away**
  • Ancient lead is transmuted into the pure gold of a ripe banana...
  • But I think lead might not give that slightly sour aftertaste that honey and most natural sugars have. Also, honey doesn't cook so well, unless mixed in well with other ingredients, such as in pastries. It tends to caramelise fairly quickly. Also, they may have figured out that honey is bee-poop.
  • Actually, if they believe their myths, honey is made from special cow-hide maggots *grin*. I kid you not. Go look it up. Check out Aristaeus. Sorry, no links right now.
  • Honey is ... wait... what??? *Throws honey away, goes back to eating wall-candy*
  • "Milk comes from a cow's behind. Honey comes from a bee's behind. And have you ever used toothpaste?" "Whose behind does THAT come from?" "You don't want to know."
  • Terrific post. Although now I'm scared of my dishes. Heh.
  • A {lead-sweetened banana} to Mel. And points to Alnedra for her classical trivia. Compare Aristaeus's sacrifice to the riddle of Samson. Perhaps in two hundred years we'll look back on aluminum cookware with similar disdain. Certainly there's enough reply-hazy-ask-again-later back-and-forth on it now.
  • That was a good one, goetter. Many thanks.