As the national girth expands by the second, Auntie, never backward about lecturing us on the topic, continues to glory in the popularity of The Great British Bake Off. What a take-off, ancients would have thought.
Philosophers, naturally, had little time for fancy cooking. Socrates argued that cooks had no interest in health, only in thrilling the client. They were mocked for the extremes they went to in perverting nature. The Roman poet Martial tells us that one Caecilius fashioned a complete meal from pumpkins which he turned into cakes, lentils, beans, mushrooms, sausages, tuna fish, sprats and sweetmeats. All very Bake Off.
Athenaeus’s lunatic Professors at Dinner in 15 books (late 2nd century ad) pretends to be an account of a banquet laid on in Rome by one Larensis for his 23 guests. In it, they unfold their thoughts on the myriad wonders of the world, and particularly its pleasures, benefits and dangers.
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