In article <83745850.1076435328@grumpus>, Gretchen Beck
> wrote:

> I agree, it's a wonderful book.
>
> One impression that I got from the book that the notes below leave out is
> the favored status of fish in the diet of the Athenians. As I recall, the
> author felt that fish of various sorts was highly prized and sought after
> as a food because, since they were not sacrificed as meat was, the buyer
> could both eat as much as he could afford/wanted and could also buy the
> quality of fish that he purchased.
>
Absolutely. I've obviously left out 99.999% of the book - partly
because I think it's stored in my girlfriend's studio.

the main point about it that I remember is the distinction between
savory relishy foods and bulky filling foods. This distinction filled
all of greek thought about food.

But since you mention the greek love of fish, here are some wonderful
quotations from James's research (I didn't quote them because I didn't
want to put his stuff on the internet, but it's probably in the book):

Strabo 14.2.21: `A lyre-player was giving a demonstration of his art.
Everybody was listening, until at a certain point the fish-bell rang
and they abandoned him and went off to the fish-stalls, except for one
man, who happened to be hard of hearing. So the musician went up to him
and said "I must express my gratitude, sir, for your courtesy and
appreciation; all the others disappeared the moment they heard the
fish-bell." To which the other responded "What's that? has the bell
rung already?" and when the musician said that it had, he quickly said
goodbye and went to join the others.

Philemon, The Soldier: `For a yearning stole up on me to go forth and
tell the world, and not only the world but the heavens too, how I
prepared the dish - By Athena, how sweet it is to get it right every
time - What a fish it was I had tender before me! What a dish I made of
it! Not drugged senseless with cheeses, nor window-boxed with
dandifying herbs, it emerged from the oven as naked as the day it was
born. So tender, so soft was the fire I invested in the cooking of it.
You wouldn't believe the result. It was just like when a chicken gets
hold of something bigger than she can swallow and runs around in a
circle, unable to let it out of her sight, determined to get it down,
while the other chickens chase after her. It was just the same: the
first man among them to discover the delights of the dish leapt up and
fled taking the platter with him for a lap of the circuit, the others
hot on his heels. I allowed myself a shriek of joy, as some snatched at
something, some snatched at everything and others snatched at nothing
at all. And yet I had merely taken into my care some mud-eating
river-fish. If I had got hold of something more exceptional, a "little
grey" from Attica, say, or a boar-fish from [Amphilochian] Argos, or
from dear old Sicyon the fish that Poseidon carries to the gods in
heaven, a conger-eel, then everyone would have attained to a state of
divinity. I have discovered the secret of eternal life; men already
dead I make to walk again, once they but smell it in their nostrils.'

Archestratus on `boar-fish':`But if you go to the prosperous land of
Ambracia and happen to see the boar-fish, buy it! Even if it costs its
weight in gold, don't leave without it, lest the dread vengeance of the
deathless ones breathe down on you; for this fish is the flower of
nectar...'

.... on Rhodian dogfish:`It could mean your death, but if they won't
sell it to you, take it by force... afterwards you can submit patiently
to your fate.'

.... on eels:`There you have the advantage over all the rest of us
mortals, citizen of Messina, as you put such fare to your lips. The
eels of the Strymon river, on the other hand, and those of lake Copais
have a formidable reputation for excellence thanks to their large size
and wondrous girth. All in all I think the eel rules over everything
else at the feast and commands the field of pleasure, despite being the
only fish with no backbone.'

Lynceus of Samos, How to shop: `One thing you will find useful, when
standing at the fish-stalls face to face with the unblinking
fishmongers, is abuse. Call Archestratus to the stand, the author of
the Life of Luxury, or another one of the poets and read out a line,
"the striped bream is an awful fish, completely worthless' and in
Spring try the line "only buy tuna in winter", and in summer "the
grey-mullet is wonderful when winter has arrived", and many other lines
of that sort. For you will scare off all the shoppers and force the
fishmonger to accept a price you think is right.'

Antiphanes 217 K-A:`Is it not strange, that if someone happens to be
selling fish recently deceased, he addresses us with a devilish scowl
and knotted brow, but if they are quite past their sell-by date, he
laughs and jokes? It should be the other way round. In the first case
the seller should laugh, and in the second go to the devil.'Some
fragments concerning symbolic cakes:


Heraclides of Syracuse Peri Thesmon, ap. Ath.14.647a: `in Syracuse on
the day of Completion (Panteleia) in the festival of Thesmophoria cakes
of sesame and honey are moulded in the shape of the female pudenda.
They are called, throughout the whole of Sicily, `mylloi' and carried
about in honour of the goddesses.'

Iatrocles On Cakes ap. Ath. 14.647bc: `the pyramous, as it is called,
is not different from the so-called pyramid cake; for this is made from
wheat roasted and soaked in honey. They are offered as prizes to he who
has stayed awake during the night festivals.'

Sosibios On Alcman book three ap. Ath. 14.646: On Kribanai (Pot-baked
cakes) `in shape they resemble breasts, and the Spartans use them at
women's feasts (hestiaseis), carrying them around whenever the girls
who follow in the choir are ready to sing the hymn of praise prepared
for the maiden.'

Philitas on Irregular Words ap. Ath. 14.645d. On the kreion, a cake or
loaf which the Argives carry from the bride to the bridegroom: `It is
baked on charcoal and the friends are invited to partake of it. It is
served with honey'

Ath. 14.645a: Amphiph n (Light-about cake) `A plakous (flat-cake)
dedicated to Artemis, having lighted candles all about it. Philemon in
Beggarwoman or Woman of Rhodes: "Artemis, my dear mistress, this
amphiphon I bring for you, o mistress and offerings for a libation." It
is mentioned also by Diphilus in Hecate. Philochorus attests the name
amphiphon and says it was carried to the temples of Artemis and also to
the crossroads, because on that day (Munichion 16) the moon, just as it
sets, is overtaken by the rising sun, so that the sky is lighted doubly
(amphiph s).'

Lazarus

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