CHAP. 71. (50.)—WHO FIRST INVENTED THE ART OF CRAMMING
POULTRY: WHY THE FIRST CENSORS FORBADE THIS PRACTICE.
The people of Delos were the first to cram poultry; and it is
with them that originated that abominable mania for devouring
fattened birds, larded with the grease of their own bodies. I
find in the ancient sumptuary regulations as to banquets, that
this was forbidden for the first time by a law of the consul Caius
Fannius, eleven years before the Third Punic War; by which it
was ordered that no bird should be served at table beyond a
single pullet, and that not fattened; an article which has since
made its appearance in all the sumptuary [Note] laws. A method,
however, has been devised of evading it, by feeding poultry upon
food that has been soaked in milk: prepared in this fashion, they
are considered even still more delicate. All pullets, however,
are not looked upon as equally good for the purposes of fattening, and only those are selected which have a fatty skin about
the neck. Then, too, come all the arts of the kitchen-that
the thighs may have a nice plump appearance, that the bird
may be properly divided down the back, and that poultry may
be brought to such a size that a single leg shall fill a whole
platter. [Note] The Parthians, too, have taught their fashions to our
cooks; and yet after all, in spite of their refinements in luxury,
no article is found to please equally in every part, for in one
it is the thigh, and in another the breast only, that is esteemed.