Changes

If we were able to bend Galenic theory for the purpose of justified social inequality, then perhaps we can also use it to justify geographic differences in what people eat? In the Middle Ages, people throughout Europe were trying to eat according to the same ancient nutritional doctrine which they read quite literally. But eventually those in the north realized that Hippocrates and Galen had lived in the Mediterranean basin. Why assume that what was good for them is also good to those living in other climate zones? Northerners, after all, have different temperaments that the southrons, so it's only natural that they should follow a different diet than the Greeks and Romans did. But how do you know what is good for the northerners? Well, it's simple: whaterever whatever food their organisms have got used over the centuries. In other words, if there's something a given nation really likes to eat and drink, then this is what is healthy for them. Perhaps wine was for Galen, but the Dutch are more suited to drinking hoppy beer; ancient dietary experts may have preferred tender veal over beef, but beef and mustard is works better to offset the cold climate of the English; and the Scots, living in harsher climes still, may even consume oatcakes, even if they would surely make everybody else sick. It's due to this great discovery that separate national cuisines could arise in Europe.

What else can we justify with humoral dietetics? Let's see… What about fasting? Have you ever wondered why eating meat is forbidden during a Catholic fast? Well, that's because red meat heats your body and strenghtens strengthens then choleric and sanguine humours, which are conducive to promiscuity and other sinful carnal pleasures. Fish, on the contrary, cool your body down and temper your proclivity to sin, which is why it is allow during lean periods. Such periods include Lent, Advent and the eves of various holidays, as well as so-called Ember Days, which include three days (Wednesday, Friday and Saturday) in each quarter of the year. It would be difficult to find a theological or liturgical rationale for these quarterly fasts, but what you can find is a humoral reason.

In any case, it's increasingly common knowledge in our 17th century that humoral medicine is mostly a way for quacks to rip wealthy patients off. Those physicians who keep swearing by ancient theories are now ridiculed by satiricians satirists and comedians, such as Cervantes, Shakespeare and Molière. ''The Imaginary Invalid'' by the latter is perhaps the best example of this trend.