Taste Or Taboo
by Michael Beer /
2010 / English / EPUB
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This book looks at the way in which food was employed in Greek
and Roman literature to impart identity, whether social,
individual, religious or ethnic. In many instances these markers
are laid down in the way that foods were restricted, in other
words by looking at the negatives instead of the positives of
what was consumed. Michael Beer looks at several aspects of food
restriction in antiquity, for example, the way in which they
eschewed excess and glorified the simple diet; the way in which
Jewish dietary restriction identified that nation under the
Empire; the way in which Pythagoreans denied themselves meat (and
beans); and the way in which the poor were restricted by economic
reality from enjoying the full range of foods. These topics allow
him to look at important aspects of Graeco-Roman social
attitudes. For example, republic virtue, imperial laxity, Homeric
and Spartan military valour, social control through sumptuary
laws, and answers to excessive drinking. He also looks closely at
the inherent divide of the Roman world between the twin centres
of Greece and Rome and how it is expressed in food and its
consumption.
This book looks at the way in which food was employed in Greek
and Roman literature to impart identity, whether social,
individual, religious or ethnic. In many instances these markers
are laid down in the way that foods were restricted, in other
words by looking at the negatives instead of the positives of
what was consumed. Michael Beer looks at several aspects of food
restriction in antiquity, for example, the way in which they
eschewed excess and glorified the simple diet; the way in which
Jewish dietary restriction identified that nation under the
Empire; the way in which Pythagoreans denied themselves meat (and
beans); and the way in which the poor were restricted by economic
reality from enjoying the full range of foods. These topics allow
him to look at important aspects of Graeco-Roman social
attitudes. For example, republic virtue, imperial laxity, Homeric
and Spartan military valour, social control through sumptuary
laws, and answers to excessive drinking. He also looks closely at
the inherent divide of the Roman world between the twin centres
of Greece and Rome and how it is expressed in food and its
consumption.