Until the first years of the twentieth century, there have been many "studious" who have attributed to the foods the ability to modify even the character of the people. Reading old texts of intellectuals by now forgotten (like Pisanelli, Marrazzo, Crevasco, etc) which have sublime titles like "The hygiene of the feeding of the good men" or "Guide of the honest kitchen", one could make curious discoveries thanks to the affirmations able, today more than ever, to put us in a good mood.

For instance, the potato, according to them, gives "calm of thought, develops the mental balance, stimulates the reason and smoothes the exuberant sensibility". The carrot was used to be prescribed "to the bilious and angry people, and to the unlucky husbands. It is recommended to the soldiers even if the spinaches are more suitable because of their properties of waking up again the ambition, the energy, and the strength of the wish. In fact, Napoleon Bonaparte almost owes all his glory to the spinaches". We would add Popeye too. 

The wood sorrel was dissuaded instead, because "it provokes discouragement, sadness, melancholy, nightmares pains and troubles to sleep". In the contrary the beans "give sweet dreams, develop tall thoughts, good feelings and artistic tastes." 

Then, listen to this: "The intellectuals should abuse of white beans and the workers should eat a lot of those that are red; the beans are great repairers of the nervous system, and they are more tonic of a slice of bloody steer that could induce to the ferocity". And if the cauliflower, who knows because, "is appreciated by the egoists" and the tomato "must be used with caution because it stimulates immoral thoughts", with the peas we need to use more caution: "the pea is a murderer: silly food, pushes to shallowness, to flirting and can conduct to dangerous adventures". 

In the opposite the figs "they incite to the meditation, to the wisdom", the strawberry “benefits the childish minds", the melon "conducts to precipitous decisions", the walnut "is very nutritious, but it upsets the sleep, while the apple encourages it." 

But there is nothing to laugh about, do you know? How many are the "beliefs" nowadays connected to determined foods? In fact there are many people today who are convinced that truffles and oysters are foods highly aphrodisiacs; in reality, they are just expensive, and could happen that a young girl who is more careful to the money than to the other, after a supper based on the aforesaid ones, she easily falls into the arms of the person who has paid the dinner!