Abstract

Nourishment is a necessity of every living being that can only resist death and grow by incorporating in its body elements selected from the outside world called food. Like so many other vital needs, food could not be exempted from religious interference, in the form of taboos and other types of restrictions, either to avoid the violation of these norms in the form of sin, or to tax the deity with a tribute of latria in the form of sacrifices, or even to compensate for the delighted pleasure of eating. Thus, food restrictions and rites, initially sacral, were imposed, many of which subsist under sometimes complex protocol forms. These interdictions dealt with types of food considered “unclean” and certain sections of the calendar considered “of penance”. Many of these norms still exist, others have been lost, but others have been born (or reborn) as mushrooms.