Ah, larks' tongues in aspic...a tasty dish. Had it for lunch. Actually, the full citation was "a dish made from the tongues of 1000 birds taught the power of speech", a one-time indulgence of the
2nd. Century (CE)
Roman Emperor
Heliogabalus, who most love to credit for being the worst
emperor of them all. The obsession of the
Imperial Romans with weird food was fuelled by a) the general high prices for food in a
preindustrial era with really crappy transportation (horses didn't have collars, so they pulled carts half-strangling in their harnesses), b) sumptuary laws (which supposedly kept people to strict food (and other kinds of) rationing, but only served to divide those who could afford to bribe the cops from those who could not), and c) the lack of variety in Roman, or for that matter,
pre-Columbian European diet. (No hot peppers, tomatoes, corn...very few spices, and at least
one gone extinct through overpicking.)
Most of the more egregious excesses in Roman living were reported by satirists and other propagandists, and so it's difficult to figure out exactly, for instance, a proper family meal consisted of, as opposed to a fantasy meal given by the Roman equivalent of Larry Ellison. Only one cookbook survives, and that's not terribly detailed....professional cooks had their secrets, then and now.
Oh yes, I LOVE the album, too.