c. 30: Jerusalem
Main Course: Bread and wine
Consumption: Jesus Christ announced at dinner that one of his 12 disciples would betray him, then blessed food and wine, informing them it was his flesh and blood
Indigestion: Christ was betrayed by Judas Iscariot and crucified the next day; meal became basis for the Eucharist; contention over whether wafer and wine during Communion is “truly, really, and substantially” of Christ fueled Protestant Reformation
1621: Plymouth, MA
Main Course: Corn, peas, duck, goose, turkey, deer
Consumption: 11 months after landing at Cape Cod, 53 Pilgrims gathered to eat their harvest; some 100 Pokanoket Indians joined, bringing five dead deer; few people sat in chairs; everyone ate with knives and fingers
Indigestion: Solidified the Pokanoket-Plymouth alliance, aggravating the powerful Narragansetts; “Thanksgiving” proclaimed national holiday by Abraham Lincoln in 1863
1740: Vienna
Main Course: Death-cap mushrooms
Consumption: Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI ate a plate of the poisonous mushrooms and died 9 days later
Indigestion: Power vacuum prompted War of the Austrian Succession between Charles’ daughter Maria Theresa and Frederick II of Prussia; intensification of struggle between Britain and France in North America; Voltaire wrote, “This plate of mushrooms changed the destiny of Europe”
1789: Paris
Main Course: Bread
Consumption: 6,000–7,000 women assembled at city hall shouting, “When will there be bread?”; marched to king’s palace at Versailles to protest food shortages
Indigestion: Crowd escorted “the baker and the baker’s wife” back to Paris; Louis XVI reluctantly approved August decrees and Declaration of the Rights of Man; Constituent Assembly grew in strength
1802: Hispaniola
Main Course: Sugar and coffee
Consumption: Slave rebellion overthrew French government, wresting control of what constituted around 40 percent of the world’s sugar supply and 60 percent of its coffee supply
Indigestion: Losing control of coffee and sugar trades, France suffered economically; Napoleon made up for shortfall by selling Louisiana to U.S. for $15 million
1916: Petrograd
Main Course: Teacakes and wine
Consumption: Rasputin accepted invitation from Prince Felix Yusupov to late-night dinner to meet his wife and was given cyanide-laced food and wine; exhibiting no signs of poison’s effect, he was shot several times, beaten, and drowned in Neva River
Indigestion: Tsar Nicholas II exiled Rasputin’s killers and replaced members of cabinet; led to further schism between imperial family and government, concluding with the Revolution of 1917; fulfilled Rasputin’s prophecy that if he were killed, tsarist rule would collapse
