Maotun
Nutrition for Philosophers and Warriors
Topic: Nutrition for Philosophers and Warriors. (1 of 2), Read 10 times New
Conf: General Discussion
From: ' Maotun '
Date: Thursday, January 05, 2006 12:53 PM
The nutrition culture of Europe is characterized by the mixed consumption of both plant and meat based foods. This hails from the middle ages. The "common view" on nutrition was a result of a synthesis.
The perceptive researcher might find the roots that later characterize Europe around the period of the fall of the Roman empire.
This is the time, when the customs of antiquity met the with the customs of the "barbarians" , that meaning the celtic and the germanic tribes.
This has been of influence to both parties, establishing the bases of later European nutrition customs.
The following generalization has its well grounded roots and reasons, but the reader is advised not to forget, that nothing is black and white, and there might always be exceptions from rules.
Plant eater Philosophers
The Greek-Roman culture favoured plant production.
The symbols of Greek self-defining were plants. Wheat, grapes and the oil tree.
Plutharchos writes, that the youth of Athens swears fealty to their country at the temple of Agrulios, where "barley, wheat, grapes, fig and oil tree grows".
Due to certain reasons, the economics of antiquity were mainly based on agriculture, horticulture and vegetable culture.
They have naturally raised animals too, mainly goats and sheep, and kept them mostly for their milk and wool.
Nutrition was mainly based on bread, wheat girdle-cake, mush-types, wine, olive oil, vegetables and a lot of cheese. This might be called mediterranean-type nutrition .
Besides obvious climatic and practical reasons, the human, as a main factor was important too, in the spreading of this type of nutrition.
Priests, philosophers, writers, poets have spread this ideal, that the bread symbolized.
The writings of Homer view mankind as "bread-eaters".
"The universe begins with bread" - says Pythagoras.
The average man of the "happy golden times of antiquity" is mainly vegetarian.
Their views on vegetarianism are akin to eastern views.
They use the principal of "not hurting", and encourage to live life, keeping possible committed atrocities to the minimum.
The philosophers described a hierarchy, based on the estimating of the spirituality and materialism of things.
Aristotle places stones, and other "lifeless objects" to the lowest place.
After them come the plants, in which the eternal essence/substance manifests as a form of "vegetative soul".
They are followed by the animal existences, who are able to perceive with senses, remember things and move spontaneously, thus have "sensitive souls".
The human existences stand at the top, in whom a thinking and spiritual soul resides.
According to views like that, the more developed/evolved form one destroys, the more "crime" he commits.
This is the reason, why it is much more preferable to live on plants, than on meat.
More than a few Roman Emperors are mentioned in history, who lived exclusively on vegetables and beans. Even the unsatisfiable, hedonistic emperors have mostly directed their passions to fruits.
Clodius Albus has been exceedingly gluttonous, especially considering fruits.
"He could eat 500 figs + a basket of peaches, or 10 honeydew melons and 20 pounds of grapes at one spot".
Naturally, the ideal was to keep healthy measures in everything, and most did.
Meat eating Warriors.
Germanic nations had thrice different views, considering nutrition. They lived north, their main sources of food was meat, and they used fat and butter too, but naturally wood fruits were part of their nutrition too. They liked fruit wine ,beer and the occasional horse milk for drinking.
This model has its roots in practical and spiritual factors too. The climate was much more "unfriendly", than in the south, thus planting, farming, and all kinds of agriculture met with much bigger difficulties.
Battle was in the middle of spirituality, as the highest of virtues, and doing battle in the north requires big bodies, a lot of energy, and heavy muscles, so meat eating even became part of spirituality
In the "paradise", the Valhalla, the heroes ate and drank , after doing battle all day, from the inexhaustible flesh of Saehrinm�r, the Great Boar, and drank huge amounts of honey beer.
The ideal of eating was not the "keeping of healthy measures", but to excel in the eating of the most possible amount of food.
The biggest eater had the greatest measure of respect, and leaders were expected to have insatiable hunger.
"The bravest toughest warriors were the most bloodthirsty, unbeatable in the hunt, and could eat immense amounts."
The meeting of the two ideals.
The integration, as an organic process began from the highest social cycles.
From the 3rd century, barbarian emperors got to the throne too, who brought their customs with themselves.
The first barbarian "soldier emperor", Maximus Thrax was rumored to drink a whole amphorae of wine (appr. 20 liters)
a day, and "could eat 40 pounds of meat, even 60, and it is rumored that he never even tasted vegetables".
Through the help of the barbarian emperors, the germanic tribes became leaders of a great part of Europe.
Their influence made meat to become the most influential part of nutrition, above all else in the eating habits of the nobility.
Meat represented, and was the source of might, influence, power and position. The one who ate meat, could become a stronger man, and a better warrior.
Common view and "science" came to regard meat as the natural source of mans nutrition, for people are from meat too.
The ideal of unrestrained eating also wins over restraint.
Charles the Great was remembered as a ruler, who could not restrain himself from eating fresh wild meat, and although because of this he endured terrible pain due to gout, he never agreed to his "doctors" even to change to cooked meat.
Great feasts of eating were almost considered as duties, among the nobility.
The antique model has not dissapeared completely, though. This is partially due to christianity, that (akin to antique religions), stayed on the side of plant eating. It made the bread and the wine to its "holy foods" and cultic objects, and the oil became important in the liturgy. Fast(ing) and the abstaining from animal based foods were regarded for long as "the only way of salvation".
Meat counted as greatly sinful, for it was rumored to inspire sexual appetite.
In the beginning, the desert hermits refused to eat it, and later the required amounts were regulated.
Although "average christians" ate a meat and other animal based foods, the regulations of fasting periods kept the "antique traditions on keeping measures"
Thus as the perceptive reader is welcome to see, nutrition , religious ideals and lifestyles have a great deal of effect on each other.
People always knew this, and cultures used food to reach their goals.
Meat inspires much more energy that can be used to warring purposes.
Even the "pre greek" greeks of Mykene knew that. The nutrition of the "hoi aristoi" (the most excellent) , the warrior nobility , whose ideals were the bases of the main characters of Homers Iliad, like Achilles (I am naturally not referring to the recent Hollywood trash, which is beneath critique) consisted mainly of meat. REGARDLESS of economical concepts. They were an exception, usually physically towering at least one head higher than the average of their men, and were otherwise much more imposing, with their armor and war chariots.
If you wish to be a warrior, eat meat.
If you wish to be a philosopher, eat vegetables.
If you wish to be both, You are free to choose and synthetize.
Naturally, as always, there might be exceptions:)