![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Roach explains: “Two pounds of kidneys, one and a third pounds of liver, a half pound of steak, two eggs, a pound of cheese, a half pound of mushrooms, two pounds of carrots, a head of cauliflower, two large slices of bread, ten peaches, four pears, two apples, four bananas, two pounds each of plums and grapes, and two glasses of milk. Of the few known instances of death by food, one Liverpool woman’s last meal was particularly epic. If you pour slowly, with less force, it may hold out for six or seven liters.” Mary Roach's signature writing style is on full display in Gulp. Writes Roach: “Key-Åberg found that if the stomach’s emergency venting and emptying systems are out of commission-because the person is in a narcotic stupor, say, or dead-the organ will typically rupture at three to four liters, around a gallon. But how much do you have to eat, theoretically? Algot Key-Åberg, a late professor of medicine at a Swedish university, intended to find out by pouring water into the mouths of 30 corpses until they exploded. Mary Roach not only follows the food we eat through our digestive tract but recounts past medical oddities, digestion habits of various animals and what Elvis really died of. Thanks to a bunch of built-in reflexes, eating yourself to death is nearly impossible, Roach found. Gulp tells you all, and much much more than you needed to know about the act of eating, tasting, digesting and excreting all that we take into our mouths. ![]()
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