Why You Shouldn't Eat Your Boogers and Other Useless or Gross Information About Your Body by Francesca Gould

Author:Francesca Gould
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group

Has it ever been acceptable manners to spit at the dinner table?

Roman diners regularly spat and vomited at the table and had special bowls in which to spew, although they frequently decided to spit or puke on the floor instead. Slaves had the disgusting job of cleaning up the mess. The puke would have consisted of lavish foodstuffs such as dormice drizzled with honey, which was a favorite food of the Romans. The philosopher Seneca (3 B.C.-A.D. 65) wrote, “When we recline at a banquet, one [slave] wipes up the spittle; another, situated beneath, collects the leavings [i.e., the vomit] of the drunks.”

In the Middle Ages, it was considered acceptable to spit during dinner, but only onto the floor. It was quite proper to belch at the table, but not in somebody’s face. Picking one’s nose was fine, too, providing the snot was wiped onto one’s clothing or the tablecloth.

In Tudor times, Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn, would puke between courses. Her maid would hold up a piece of cloth so that she could discreetly vomit into it without offending her guests.

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