Taster
A taster is a person with the specific task of checking food and drinks (by taking and taking a sample) for their quality and compatibility.
Historically , the taster was the office of an employee, usually a slave , at court . In ancient Rome, a slave who held the position of chief fore-taster was called praegustator . Before every meal he had to taste the prepared food and drinks. If, after a certain waiting time, the taster showed no signs of poisoning, the (relative) certainty was given that the food was good and not poisoned and that the ruler himself could confidently eat it.
In some ruling houses and in the Vatican there were repeated poisonings . Up until the 1950s, a taster at papal liturgies in St. Peter had to taste wine and water when preparing gifts to ensure that they were not poisoned.
In order to circumvent the protective effect of a pre-taster, lead was also used, as this leads to death through accumulation in the body only after long-term, multiple ingestion . In this case, the toxicity is not noticed immediately, which makes a taster useless.
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Individual evidence
- ↑ Wilm Sanders , Domkapitular , in Anzeiger 1/1993 , p. 8ff.