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"Cooking, in effect, took part of the work of chewing and digestion and performed it for us outside of the body, using outside sources of energy. Also, since cooking detoxifies many potential sources of food, the new technology cracked open a treasure trove of calories unavailable to other animals. Freed from the necessity of spending our days gathering large quantities of raw food and then chewing (and chewing) it, humans could now devote their time, and their metabolic resources, to other purposes, like creating a culture."

Michael Pollan

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Monday
Mar102014

The bad teeth of British royalty

DateMonday, March 10, 2014 at 4:33PM

English royalty had a reputation for having bad teeth in the 16th century. Sidney Mintz quotes a German traveller of the 16th century who met Queen Elizabeth at court:

"The Queen, in the 65th year of her age (as we were told), very majestic; her face oblong, fair but wrinkled; her eyes small, yet black and pleasant; her nose a little hooked, her lips narrow, and her teeth black (a defect the English seem subject to, from their too great use of sugar)." 

Mintz, S. (1986 [1985]) Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History, London: Penguin. (p.134)

 

AuthorVix | Comment3 Comments |
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Reader Comments (3)

Imagine what her breath would have smelt like, certainly not sweet!

April 5, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterMa

Dirty Dirty teeth muhahahahahaha

September 17, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterBILL

Gross, huh! :)

September 18, 2014 | Registered CommenterVix

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