ABSTRACT
THE best sea-fish, in Avicenna’s opinion, are those living in stony or sandy areas, and also those which wander into rivers and travel upstream, since this impels them to exercise all their strength and they accordingly become tastier and healthier. Men’s choice depends too on a consideration of what food they eat, plants, roots, or mere refuse; 1 so much are the needs of the stomach at odds with the excessive demands of the palate. 2 We see Seneca express himself in similar fashion when he refers to the mullet in Bk III of his Investigations of Nature:‘The feats of extravagance are unbelievable. While the fish are swimming in their tank, one is caught under the very table, to which it can be instantly transferred. Unless it dies at the hand of a banqueter, it is not reckoned fresh enough, and as it dies, its hue is scrutinized, for death changes its colour many times as it struggles for breath. The guests do not deign to touch it, if it has not been caught that same day. What a pitch voluptuousness has reached! The bellies of our gourmands have attained such a degree of fastidiousness that they cannot bring themselves to taste a fish unless they have actually seen it swimming at their dinner-party, feasting their gaze before their appetites. So this insane pursuit of pleasure daily devises something more refined and exquisite, at the same time rejecting anything ordinary. Such men are not content to guzzle in a restaurant with teeth, mouth, and maw, but must do it with their eyes as well.’ 2
