8/12/2023 0 Comments X word food![]() ![]() Lindda R Caporael, a professor at the Science and Technology Studies Department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York was the first to suggest ergotism as a medical explanation for bewitchment in 1976. It's been suggested that the consumption of ergot-infected grains is a possible explanation for the Salem witch trials and other accusations of bewitchment. The fungus also acts as a vasoconstrictor, reducing blood circulation, resulting in intense burning sensations and even the loss of limbs through gangrene. Ergot is the fungus from which the precursor to LSD is derived and the cause of the medical condition ergotism, also known as St Anthony's fire, which causes hallucinations and convulsions. However, rye is the grain most susceptible to the ergot fungus, also part of the genus Claviceps. A staple of the health food movement, rye grain is eaten widely though northern and eastern Europe and rye breads such as pumpernickel are considered to be healthier than other breads thanks to their high fibre content and low fat levels. More surprising, perhaps, is the well-documented occasional hallucinogenic effect of rye grain. Still, it's hardly unheard of for fish to have a darker side. Suffering from ichthyoallyeinotoxism is not dissimilar to some aspects of LSD, but with the significant difference that the hallucinations can last for days rather than the more manageable average effective period of acid - around 12 hours. Sarpa salpa, a species of sea bream now found in British waters, occasionally accumulates a powerful psychoactive compound called indole in its head, which can lead to ichthyoallyeinotoxism, or hallucinogenic fish poisoning. Nutmeg's long and storied history could fill pages of newsprint, but it isn't the only psychoactive food that we come across on a regular basis. William S Burroughs, renowned writer and "psychonaut", included nutmeg in his Afterthoughts on a Deposition, making reference to its less desirable side-effects: "results are vaguely similar to marijuana with side effects of headache and nausea … I have only taken nutmeg once." Richard Rudgley, in his Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Substances, also makes reference to jazz saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker with relation to the spice, quoting a session musician: "Bird introduced this nutmeg to the guys. Malcolm X isn't the only influential figure to have experimented with the spice, either. My cellmate … bought from kitchen worker inmates penny matchboxes full of stolen nutmeg … stirred into a glass of cold water, a penny matchbox full of nutmeg had the kick of three or four reefers." In The Autobiography of Malcolm X he wrote: "I first got high in Charlestown on nutmeg. In the early years of his incarceration, Malcolm X, like so many other convicts of the time, found escape in the most apparently unlikely place - a penny matchbox full of nutmeg. In 1946, prior to his conversion to Islam, Malcolm X was serving time in Charlestown prison. A brief visit to hospital wasn't the only trip for three of them that afternoon when it transpired the brownies had been spiked with cannabis, baked and frozen a year previously by their generous co-worker's inexplicably forgetful son.Įven without the addition of an illegal substance many foods have psychotropic qualities, some more frequently exploited than others. ![]() Three office workers in Victoria, British Columbia, got more than they bargained for last week when a colleague brought some chocolate brownies in to share. ![]()
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