Leonardo da Vinci was not only a great artist and a great engineer, he also take great interest in cooking and human habits. This led him to research the topic and create a set of rules to follow in order to achieve a healthy lifestyle.
Via Digg I know the work of Dave Dewitt researcher on culture and culinary history who conducted extensive research on the creations of the genius of Florence in the kitchen. The following compilation lists the steps that Leonardo considered necessary for a healthy life.
1 .- Do not eat when not hungry, eat light.
2 .- Chew well, and anything you ingest that is well cooked and is simple ingredients.
3 .- The taking drugs is wrong warned.
4 .- Beware of anger and dirty air.
5 .- Stay up for a while after eating.
6 .- Be sure not to sleep at noon.
7 .- Let your wine be mixed with water, making little and often. Not between meals, not on an empty stomach.
8 .- Do not delay or prolong your visit to the toilet.
9 .- If you exercise it is not excessive.
10 .- Do not you lie down with your stomach and your head up and down.
11 .- Cover well at night, with your head and your mind happy restful.
12 .- Etude be compulsory to stay on this diet.
List published in the book entitled Dewitt: Da Vinci’s Kitchen: A Secret History of Italian Cuisine
Leonardo and plastic …
Indeed, Leonardo was also the inventor of the plastic. Alessandro Vezzosi, director of the Museo Ideale in Vinci, followed the instructions left by Leonardo in his writings and came to be a kind of natural plastic Polychromatic:
[Go to the source PlastUnivers]
Vezzosi followed Leonardo’s instructions and applied the colors mixed with vegetable or animal glues. He then painted the materials described by Leonardo with many layers. When the material is dried, he removed it and obtained a material similar to bakelite, a plastic that was discovered in early 1900.
“We must be patient and wait until each layer of color dry completely. We used pigments similar to those applied by Leonardo. They ranged from traditional oil painting to all types of organic materials, “Vezzosi said.
The successful reproduction of Leonardo’s natural polychrome plastic proved that the Florentine genius created the first man-made plastic long before Alexander Parkes invented parkesine (an organic material derived from cellulose) in 1862 and succeeded Leo Hendrik Baekeland’s bakelite in 1909.
“Leonardo created a material between natural and chemical plastic. In fact, he had synthesized a chemical very similar to acetone. But in his experiments he always used non-toxic, organic, “Vezzosi said.
Leonardo’s polychrome mixtures were so similar to phenolic resin that could be used to make knife handles, salt cellars, packaging, and collars. His monochrome mixtures could be used to make cups or glasses that were broken when he fell to the floor.
Professor Alessandro Bagno, the department of organic chemistry at the University of Padova, said it was interesting that da Vinci used layers to create unbreakable objects.
“In the case of oil painting, for example, the solvent agent is linseed oil. This oil polymerizes slowly on contact with air, forming a polymer resistant, waterproof, similar to linoleum.
This demonstrates once more the high capability of innovation of Leonardo, although the situation was that his work would be without knowledge and knowledge were not added at that time in history to human knowledge.
