Al-Muwafaq 'Abd al-Latif said
It was a custom in India that when they wanted to eat, they would bathe.
They would wear clean clothes, smell perfume, and refrain from movements.
They would abandon indecent talk and then approach the food.
The discussion on what is possible from all of this will come later.
Cold foods should be eaten in the summer, and hot foods in the winter; introducing food upon another food is bad.
Likewise, movement after it is harmful.
The physicians said
Movement before food is entirely good, just as it is after it entirely evil.
And its hotness should be balanced with its coldness.
And its sweetness with its sourness.
And its fatness with its saltiness.
Its astringency with its fatness.
Having too many types of food confuses the body's nature.
Delicious food is praiseworthy, were it not for overeating it, and sticking to bland food.
It diminishes appetite and induces laziness.
Excessive sourness accelerates aging.
Continuous consumption of sweets weakens appetite and heats the body.
Saltiness dries the body and makes it emaciated.
