On 541 AD a plague broke out in the Byzantine empire. According to the Byzantine historian Procopius, the best primary source of the period, the epidemic appears to have begun around the port of Pelusion, near Suez in Egypt. ”Then it divided…
Pagophagia, geophagia or eating unusual foods
Pagophagia* is a disorder that encompasses daily craving and eating of ice, snow or iced water. The Byzantine Emperor Theophilus (829-842 AD) died from dysentery, the possible cause of which may be connected to Theophilus’ pagophagia, in order to relieve the symptoms…
FISH ROE
Τhough I was raised in a non religious middle class family, the consumption of special Lenten foods didn’t differ from other middle class housholds, apart from the fact that it had to do with folk rituals rather than religion. When I was a child, crab meat, black caviar,…