(no subject)

Spent some time yesterday at the Copley branch of the Boston Public Library while I was waiting for a nearby medical appointment. Wandered into the world languages section and gave the Italian part a look. Oh, hey, here's an author I recognize in a language I want to practice...

and now I have to keep telling myself that there is absolutely nothing wrong whatsoever with having a hard time translating written Italian into comprehensible English if the text you are starting from is a volume of essays on semiotics and conceptual linguistics by Umberto freaking Eco.

Salisbury steak: you just THOUGHT it was a TV dinner

(James) Salisbury served as a physician during the American Civil War, and became convinced that diarrhea suffered by the troops could be controlled with a diet of coffee and lean chopped beefsteak.

Salisbury was one of the earliest health food faddists and taught that diet was the main determinant of health. He believed vegetables and starchy foods produced poisonous substances in the digestive system which were responsible for heart disease, tumors, mental illness and tuberculosis. He believed that human dentition demonstrated that humans were meant to eat meat, and sought to limit vegetables, fruit, starches, and fats to one-third of the diet.

The Salisbury steak, his means of achieving this goal, is ground beef flavored with onion and seasoning and then broiled and covered with gravy or brown sauce. It was introduced in 1888. Salisbury saw beef as an excellent defense against many different physical problems. He suggested that Salisbury steak should be eaten three times a day, with much hot water to cleanse the digestive system. He was an early American proponent of a low-carbohydrate diet for weight loss, and he promoted his diet for that purpose.


"The real health threat posed by this McDonalds of which you future people speak is the fact that you keep eating their French fries! Not to mention the distressing number of ... of vegetables on your Big Macs!"