detailed that it is possible to reconstruct a healthy meal using the system of
humoral physiology, or balancing the hot, cold, moist, and dry humors in a
single dish.
From Galen’s On the Properties of Foodstuffs, p. 61
Chickpeas, Galen notices, are made into soups in the country, sometimes
using chickpea fl our cooked with milk. He thinks that chickpeas are less
prone to cause fl atulence than other beans, are more nutritious, and even
serve as an aphrodisiac, but there is also the skeleton of a recipe that he
says is common among us. The following is a reconstructed recipe. The
combination, apart from being delicious, fi ts into his defi nition of a healthy
meal, as it does ours.
Take two cups of chickpeas, and soak them overnight. Then, simmer gently
in fresh water for about an hour. When the chickpeas begin to get tender, add
a teaspoon of salt, a dash of olive oil, and some oregano. Continue cooking
until completely cooked through. Then, take a dry cheese, such as Greek
kefalotiri or kashkaval, and pound it or process it fi nely until it resembles
fl our. Sprinkle this on the chickpeas and serve. Feta cheese crumbled on top
of the chickpeas is also very good, and because Galen doesn’t specify the
type of cheese, feel free to use what you like best.
When to Eat Peaches
Peaches were fi rst imported to the West in antiquity—hence the name
persika, meaning that they come from Persia, but they are actually from the
Far East. Galen warns us, despite the lovely taste, that the juice and fl esh of
peaches easily corrupts and, therefore, should not be eaten at the end of the
meal because the peaches fl oat on the surface of the stomach, where they
corrupt. However, before a meal, they serve as a lubricant, helping other
foods down the digestive tract. As an experiment, try eating peaches at the
end of a meal and then, next time, at the start. Is there any difference? Were
you psychosomatically infl uenced by Galen’s suggestion, or is his model of
digestion completely outdated?