Gavin Jones

I remember co-running a rather profitable anarchist toasted sandwich stall with such a piece of equipment at a left-wing conference in the mid-eighties. Such delights as the Kropotkin Crunchie (Peanut butter & something) The Bakunin Beanie (Organic baked beans & some other stuff) The Emma Goldmann (banana & something) were sold at hideous mark-ups to delegates from the worthier fringes of UK socialism.

I think that's the Petrarchan bit I was missing.

I notice that as a tribute to one of our most indefatigable eGulletarians UK terrestrial TV is screening "Carry on Cabby" tomorrow.

Jinmyo, poetry now consists of words which fail to reach the end of the line. That said I always feel every Ottava wants a Sestina - preferably Petrarchan.

Which religions explicitly proscribe love between the species? The anti-cannibalism.

But so much more interesting for us the reverse "All sex is about food".

'Bemba women must be alert to protect their cooking hearths from anyone who may have had sex without ritual purifiaction - otherwise a child which eats the food will die'. (F. Fernandez-Armesto) That is a proper taboo. At least with significant consequences - I guess Bataille & Duchamp could have got excommunicated if anyone had been interested (or executed if they'd existed a few hundred years earlier).

Wasn't it divvied up in a great powers WWI type agreement? There's an interesting question here a. Factual political b. Extra Cold - what is the diet available for inhabitants of the Antarctic. I have lost my copy of Apsley Cherry-Gerrard but will look out. What a bastard Scott was. Do Penguins carry the risk of a vitamin A overdose (Pinguin au couscous springs to mind).

Or alternatively post some chunks of Kant. Wore a yellow cravat. Lost his virginity at 47. Gave brilliant dinner parties. What would Kant serve for dinner?

I think that was Wilfrid's 2+2=4 example - and philosophers have spent a lot of time concocting situations where obvious synthetic a priori ethics goes for a burton. Enjoyed lxt's post. One immediately comes up with the question for Macrosan 'If there's only pork sausages to eat should you starve to death or break God's laws?'.

The conclusion being? My understanding (& drinking) was that guinness is traditionally served warmer in Belfast than Dublin. As I mostly drunk it in Belfast I go for the enlightenment style. (Drink with Diderot).

Jings, Crivens and help ma' Bob, I'm even sympathising with Jason now. Felipe Fernandez-Arnesto states; 'It is pointless to seek rational and material explanations for dietary restrictions, because they are essentially supra-rational and Metaphysical'. He instances Fiji where taboos are imposed specifically to pregnant women (crab, octopus, coconut liquid). And in the late 12thC Giraldus Cambrensis permitted barnacle Geese as Lenten food as they reproduced without sex. It is this linkage (between diet and chastity) that he uses to draw the analogy with modern dietetics - which he therefore also locates as 'supra-rational'. As to revealed dietary laws - I presume for the religions where this is the case (Christianity not one, but I'm understanding Judaism and Islam as so) there are no quibbles about the exact interpretation of "God"'s word.

A small note: US food preparation policy has derogations not only in respect of Halal and Kosher preparations but for Chinese Buddhists: In the slaughter of poultry the eviscerated fowl should retain their head & feet. Confucians: The chicken retains its viscera.

The absence of the kosher/non-kosher division in Christianity is a mystery to me. The theology/philology seems fairly shaky to me (i.e. late variant readings of the Greek). Still we have Divinity grade 1 to give us a hand.

What order are we doing that in again, please?

Is anyone aware of religions where dietary proscription is strict. That is where transgression of the dietary law results in ostracism/expulsion? I tried the Duchampian semen-on-sacrament which for christian sects which transubstantiate is self-evidently transgressive. What we really want are some anthropologists. I guess the obvious example is cannibalism where the frisson around the act has aquired an extraordinary force. How about the Aztecs?

I'm intrigued by the level of transgression implicit in dietary laws. I'm wondering if there's any dish that would come close to the amuse-gueule of the Bistro Bataille of semen on sacrament in terms of addressing the foundational aspects of a religion.

Deep-fried foreskin, anyone?

In Ireland one is likely to pay a visit to the deceased on the night before burial. Then drink a bit. This is certainly what I did with OTC, though going to look at the corpse on the way back from the pub was maybe superfluous.

Call it France?

And it seems a little hazy (theologically) why Christianity doesn't retain a Kosher/non Kosher distinction. The thought of living in a State which legally deprives me of Pork products would be unconscionable.

I'd be interested in a comparison of the eating habits of Muslims & Hindus ,say in the context of India. I'd vaguely understood eating patterns for Hindus were historically slightly stratified on a caste basis? (please excuse if up wrong tree).

Enjoy it. I picked up a bottle of Graham's 1970 just before Christmas. Now that's a bottle - looks like it's from the 18th C. No label, squat, green (like an anti-fashion toad) - just the stamp on the wax sealing the cork with a simple 'Graham 1970'. I am finding it hard to think of anyone I want to share it with.

I think Adam also mentioned this for serious whisky. Though the only thing I'm a member of is e.G. this is probably worth it - particularly if you're in London from time to time.

Yes, it's just put through a cooler for people who want to drink lager but like the idea of guinness. And Simon's comments are to the point on Nitro-kegging - to the extent that I expect to see him at the next eGullet event with a flowing beard and a repertoire of folk-songs.