On Food and Cooking

In  the time    of  classical   Greece  and Rome,

when     spices  were    much    used    in  religious

ceremonies  and in  perfumes,   not everyone

thought that    they    also    belong  in  foods!

The question    may be  raised, why aromatics

and other   fragrant    things, while   they    give    a

pleasant     taste   to  wine,   do  not     have    this

effect  on  any other   article of  food.   In  all

cases,  they    spoil   food,   whether it  be  cooked

or  not.

—   Theophrastus,   De  causis  plantarum,  3rd

century BCE

Today    we  need    “supplements”   for     meat.

We   mix     oil,    wine,   honey,  fish    paste,

vinegar,    with    Syrian  and Arabian spices, as

though  we  were    really  embalming   a   corpse

for burial.

—   Plutarch,   Moralia,    2nd century CE

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