Galen On Food And Diet

Galen, the personal physician of the emperor Marcus Aurelius, wrote what was long regarded as the definitive guide to a healthy diet, and profoundly influenced medical thought for centuries. Based on his theory of the four humours, these works describe the effects on health of a vast range of foods including lettuce, lard, peaches and hyacinths. This book makes all his texts on food available in English for the first time, and provides many captivating insights into the ancient understanding of food and health.

Galen, the personal physician of the emperor Marcus Aurelius, wrote what was long regarded as the definitive guide to a healthy diet, and profoundly influenced medical thought for centuries. Based on his theory of the four humours, these works describe the effects on health of a vast range of foods including lettuce, lard, peaches and hyacinths. This book makes all his texts on food available in English for the first time, and provides many captivating insights into the ancient understanding of food and health.

This is the first study of food in classical antiquity that treats it as both a biological and a cultural phenomenon. The variables of food quantity, quality and availability, and the impact of disease, are evaluated and a judgement reached which inclines to pessimism. Food is also a symbol, evoking other basic human needs and desires, especially sex, and performing social and cultural roles which can be either integrative or divisive. The book explores food taboos in Greek, Roman, and Jewish society, and food-allocation within the family, as well as more familiar cultural and economic polarities which are highlighted by food and eating. The author draws on a wide range of evidence new and old, from written sources to human skeletal remains, and uses both comparative historical evidence from early modern and contemporary developing societies and the anthropological literature, to create a case-study of food in antiquity.

Until recently an English translation of Galen's On the Properties of Foodstuffs did not exist. This work, by one of the greatest of ancient physicians, provides a lucid description of the ways in which foods were thought to affect the body and were in turn affected by it. It contains revealing fragments of social comment. A retired physician with a particular interest in gastroenterology, Owen Powell offers the most accurate translation of the work currently available, including the first detailed introduction, commentary and discussion of terminology.

"Albala 's engaging tour through the host of Renaissance dietary theories reminds us that our preoccupations with food and susceptibility to cranky advice about nutrition are nothing new. This is superior scholarship delivered with a light touch."—Rachel Laudan, author of The Food of Paradise: Exploring Hawaii’s Culinary Heritage "This stimulating work is an important contribution to social and especially medical-dietetic history. Albala is the first to explore in detail the role of dietetic literature in the development of the European nation state. His book is a pleasure to read."—Melitta Weiss Adamson, editor of Food in the Middle Ages

Galen of Pergamon, was a prominent Roman physician, surgeon and philosopher. The most accomplished of all medical researchers of antiquity, Galen contributed greatly to the understanding of numerous scientific disciplines, including anatomy, physiology, pathology, pharmacology, and neurology, as well as philosophy and logic. Galen's understanding of anatomy and medicine was principally influenced by the then current theory of humorism, as advanced by many ancient Greek physicians such as Hippocrates. His theories dominated and influenced Western medical science for more than 1,300 years. Medical students continued to study Galen's writings until well into the 19th century. Galen conducted many nerve ligation experiments that supported the theory, which is still accepted today that the brain controls all the motions of the muscles by means of the cranial and peripheral nervous systems.

Terrors of the Table is an absorbing account of the struggle to find the necessary ingredients of a healthy diet, and the fads and quackery that have always waylaid the unwary and the foolish when it comes to the matter of food and health. Walter Gratzer tells the tale of nutrition's heroes, heroines and charlatans with characteristic crispness and verve. We find an array of colourful personalities, from the distinguished but quarrelsome Liebig, to the enterprising Lydia Pinkham. But we also find the slow recognition that the lack of vital ingredients can cause terrible illnesses - scurvy, rickets, beriberi. These diseases stalked the poor in the West even into the 20th century, and scandalously remain in poorer parts of the world today. The narrative stretches from classical times to the modern day and gives a valuable historical perspective to our current understanding. It also highlights some of the problems faced by the developed world regarding health today - in particular diabetes and obesity. And despite our far greater understanding of what our body needs, there are still many who would fall for fads and fancy diets - some dangerous, others just daft. Of course, the story of nutrition does not end there. We have discovered the key vitamins and minerals our body needs, but research continues on the connections between diet, health and disease. The body's biochemistry is complex, and there are no easy answers, no magic formula, that applies to all individuals. The safest and most rational course would seem to be a sensible, moderate, and varied diet, not forgetting that 'a little of what you fancy does you good'.

In Food in the Ancient World, a respected classicist and apractising world-class chef explore a millennium of eating anddrinking. Explores a millennium of food consumption, from c.750 BC to 200AD. Shows the pivotal role food had in a world where it was linkedwith morality and the social order. Concerns people from all walks of life – impoverishedcitizens subsisting on cereals to the meat-eating elites. Describes religious sacrifices, ancient dinner parties anddrinking bouts, as well as exotic foods and recipes. Considers the role of food in ancient literature from Homer toJuvenal and Petronius.