Tag: famine
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Famines throughout history
Since times immemorial there have been numerous famines in the world. Droughts, floods, and crop failures have claimed millions of lives, often the consequence of wars, injudicious policies, repressive measures, but frequently described as inevitable or attributed to supernatural causes. The earliest famines recorded in history occurred during the first dynasties of ancient Egypt,…
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Feast or famine: Food in the art of Bruegel
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “Famine was part of everyday life.”1 Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525–1569), one of the most accomplished Netherlandish painters, often used peasant life as his subject. The survival of peasant agricultural society depended entirely on the success of their crops. The dream of abundant food, available without working for it, was the theme…
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Gluttony: rise, fall, and resurgence of a capital sin
F. Gonzalez-CrussiChicago, Illinois, United States The notion of gluttony (gula in Latin, meaning throat, gullet) was born among the Desert Fathers. These were hermits who in the early Middle Ages chose to live in a harsh environment and in solitude, conditions they deemed most suitable for mystical contemplation. Among them, the monk Evagrius Ponticus (345-399…