Originally Posted by
Glorfindel:
“He was!
”
I have undertaken my own modest study into Byron's dietary arrangments and have discovered several alarming inconsistencies contained therein. While I can find no evidence of him eating meatstuffs it is certain that Byron was curious to attempt their consumption and digestion. According to Edward Blunden's
Shelley (1946):
Quote:
“For Michaelmas Day Byron regularly resolved to have a roast goose, and bought one; but by the time he had fattened it for a month the goose and he were such friends that the bird did not come to the table, and another was bought. At last he possesed four pet geese which travelled in cages under his carriage.”
I venture to suggest it is fortunate that Byron died so young, otherwise he might well have cornered the world market in geese.
Moving swiftly on, and concerning the matter of fish, Byron was at some times an abstainer yet at others an avid consumer. From
Life of Lord Byron : with his letters and journals (Vol.2 - 1811-13):
Quote:
“1811: "As we had none of us been apprised of his peculiarities with respect to food, the embarrassment of our host was not a little, on discovering that there was nothing upon the table which his noble guest could eat or drink. Neither meat, fish, nor wine, would Lord Byron touch ; and of biscuits and sodawater, which he asked for, there had been, unluckily, no provision. He professed, however, to be equally well pleased with potatoes and vinegar (*possibly because he discovered the potato and wished to promulgate the success of this most versatile vegetable) and of these meagre materials contrived to make rather a hearty dinner”
And yet only two years later:
Quote:
“"Stuffed myself with sturgeon, and exceeded in champagne and wine in general, but not to confusion of head. When I do dine, I gorge like an Arab or a Boa snake, on fish and vegetables, but no meat. I am always better, however, on my tea and biscuit than any other regimen, and even that sparingly.”
However by 1823 the poet opines in
Don Juan, Canto XIII:
Quote:
“And angling , too, that solitary vice,
Whatever Izaak Walton sings or says:
The quaint, old, cruel coxcomb, in his gullet
Should have a hook, and a small trout to pull it.”
Perhaps Byron is being somewhat harsh on Izaak there. Anyway, I hope my labours in unearthing these details are of some small interest to the reader.
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* I must confess that my remark about the potato is an invention.
