"Flirting with the Forbidden"

Travel + Leisure Magazine article on "forbidden" delicacies and the way they got that way: ortolan (crazy eating ritual! See image), beluga caviar, foie gras, rare hamburgers, raw dairy, ibérico ham, trans fats, no live lobsters at Whole Foods (sheer idiocy)... and, of course, absinthe. From the article:

The problem with legislating eating habits isn’t just that the rules are often arbitrary. It’s that there’s no obvious place to stop. Food is intrinsically dangerous—for God’s sake, you put it in your mouth. This is the risk one assumes with the blessing and burden of having an appetite.

Via Alan at the Wormwood Society forums.