vrijdag 6 mei 2016

The Famous and the Food (5)



Japanse mispel


Zie de eerste aflevering van deze serie hier (alle links hier in een nieuw venster)


Leonardo da Vinci


Before Montaigne and roughly contemporary with both Erasums and More one giant among men passionately denounced the slaughter of animals and loathed meat-eating: Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Renaissance man himself, possible the greatest draughtsman ever to have lived, possessed of an infinate curiousity which drove him on an unstinting examination of life's myriad phenomena. Yet in the sixty or so biographies in the London Library of his life and work, only one book bothers to discuss his vegetarianism. Freud wrote a book analysing Leonardo, seeing in him a man in conflict between pity and aggression. As symbols of the former, Freud cites Leonard's vegetarianism and his habit of freeing wild caged birds at the market.

[Over Freud en Da Vinci lees beter De Weense Kwakzalver, van Han Israels]

Da Vinci's views on vegetarianism and his pity for animals were no secret. There is throughout Leonard's scattered notes a rising disgust with man himself, as here: King of animals-as thou has described him-I should rather say King of the beasts'. Leonard writes: Now does not nature produce enough simple vegetarian food for thee to satisfy thyself? And if thou ar not content with such, canst thou not by the mixture of them make infinite compounds, as Platina describes and other writers on food?' Leonardo was clearly aware of vegetarian cuisine. Bartolommeo Sacchi, called Il Platina, wrote the first Italian cookery book since Apicius. He belonged to a club, the Academy, which was for lovers of classical antiquity. They used Greek names and studied the philosophy and thought of the ancient world. Such pursuits were considered pagan and could bring charges of heresy. A valid idea of the cooking of the Renaissance can be gathered from Platina's colleciton of recipes.

In the meantime the cooking of Renaissance Rome reached an apex of sophistication, art and gluttony. Leonardo would have been only too aware of the endless lavish feasts given by the great families of Rome, Florence and Milan...Plantina's book On Lawful Pleasure (De Honesta Voluptate) claims interest at the beginning only in a moderate diet. The book is divided into eight sections: fruit and seasonings, nuts and herbs, salads and meats, poultry, prepared dishes, sweets, eggs and frying. It became a great success.



Kabeljauw in bamboeblad gestoomd
Vegetarisch of niet


Mahatma Ghandi


Now let us consider how often and how much should one eat. Food should be taken as a matter of duty-even as a medicine-to sustain the body, never for the satisfaction of the palate. Thus, pleasurable feeling comes from satisfaction of real hunger.


Een rare gek, met z'n klysma's...


[Kwam toevallig de zelfde dag dit nog tegen: Die Indiase bosneukers trachtten door middel van concentratie, meditatie en andere flauwekul de fantasie uit je kop te schudden. Martin Boelens, De dochter van de hondekop, 1977]



Kadayif


Rolling Stones


The Rollig Stones are an offbeat group if there ever was one. They come screaming over from England and raise a cloud of dust wherever they go. but if you're a Stone fan, you stick with them through thick and thin. And, talking about thin, it would be hard to find a skinnier batch of boys anywhere, wich is not easy to believe when you watch them eat Hot Dogs On the Rocks, their favorite American dish. Mick Jagger invented the potatoes and franks; Charlie Watts added the beans.

Hot Dogs On The Rocks
(serves five Stones)
10 frankfurters
5 potatoes, or enough instant mashed potatoes to serve five Preparee instant potatoes, or boil and mash the potatoes. (Use milk and butter, making regular, every-day mashed potatoes.) Cook the frankfurters according to the package directions and heat the baked beans. On each plate, serve a mound of creamy mashed potatoes ringed by heated canned baked beans. Over the top of all this, slice up the frankfurters in good-sized chunks.
This is not --repeat not-- a recipe for calorie counters.



Konijn met pruimen



Volgende aflevering zie hier