How far ahead did you taste?

[vengroff]

How far ahead of a meal did you normally do your food tasting work? Presumably, anyone who thought they might be poisoned would want to wait around a bit to make sure their food taster was really okay. Not all poisons work instantly, after all. Did this mean that most of the food at aristocratic banquets ended up being served cold?

[Peter Elbling]

There are slow acting poisons? Now you tell me! If only I had known then. I feel faint just thinking about it. No, I knew that. I did. But what could I do about it? I had to taste the meal right there by the table. Although there were a few cold dishes, most of them were hot and Duke Federico hated to wait. If that pig was hungry, and he was always hungry, he would often snatch the platters out of my hand.

I had to use my wits. I prayed daily that by sniffing each dish, staring at the guests and raising my right eyebrow in concern, naming the ingredients, using my charms and amulets, as well as having a spy in the kitchen, that all this would prevent anyone from even thinking of poisoning Duke Federio.

It did not always work. I had some narrow escapes. The duke's enemies, and there were many, became wise to these tricks and came up with new schemes. So I was forced to come up with new precautions. But they must have worked because if some one had used a slow acting poison, I would not be writing this today.