The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 1 (of 3)Athenaeus, of Naucratis
General
The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 1 (of 3)
Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Civilization, Greco-Roman; Dinners and dining -- Greece; Greece -- Social life and customs; Homosexuality -- Greece
Persian nuts too are as apt to produce headaches as the acorns of
Jupiter; but they are more nutritious, though they make the throat and
mouth feel rough; but when they are roasted they are less injurious, and
when eaten with honey, they are the most digestible of all nuts. The
broad Persian nuts have the greatest tendency to produce flatulence;
but when boiled they are less injurious than when raw, or even when
roasted. But Philotimus in his treatises on Nourishment says, "The broad
nut, and that which is called the Sardinian nut, are both exceedingly
indigestible when raw, and are very slow in dissolving in the stomach,
as they are kept down by the phlegm in the stomach, and as they
themselves are of an astringent nature. The Pontic nut too is oily and
indigestible; but the almond is not so indigestible as that, and
accordingly if we eat a number of them we do not feel any inconvenience;
and they appear more oily, and give out a sweet and oily juice."
Diphilus of Siphnos says--"There is a nut called the Royal nut, which
causes severe headaches, and keeps rising in the stomach; and there are
two sorts of them, one of which, that which is tender and white, is the
more juicy and the better; but that which is roasted in ovens is not
nutritious. Almonds have a tendency to make people thin, and are
diuretic and cathartic, and far from nutritious; and the dry ones are
far more apt to produce flatulence and are far more indigestible than
the green ones, which do not give much juice, and which are not very
nutritious; but those which are tender, and full, and white, being like
milk, are more full of wholesome juice. And the Thasian and Cyprian
nuts, being tender, are far more easily digested than dry ones. The nuts
of Pontus are apt to produce headaches, but still they are not so
indigestible as the Royal nuts."
43. Moreover, Mnesitheus the Athenian, in his book on Comestibles, says,
"The digestion of Eubœan nuts or chestnuts (for they are called by
both names) is very difficult for the stomach, and is attended with a
great deal of flatulence. And they are apt to thicken the juice, and to
make people fat, unless their constitution is strong enough to
neutralise them. But almonds, and likewise the nuts of Heraclea, and the
Persian nuts, and all others of the same sort, are still worse than
these: and it is desirable to touch absolutely none whatever of these
things unless they are first cooked by fire; with the exception of,
perhaps, the green almonds. But one should boil some of them, and roast
others; for some of them are of an oily nature, as the dry almonds and
the acorns of Jupiter; but some are hard and harsh, as the nuts of the
beech and all that kind. And from the oily sorts the action of the fire
extracts the oil, which is the worst part of them: but those which are
hard and harsh are softened, and, so to say, ripened, if any one cooks
them over a small and gentle fire."
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