Bay leaf is practically mandatory in soups/stews, but you have to take it out when the soup’s done and can’t eat it because it’s toxic.
:dubious:
I’ve actually choked on bay leaf once. Might not be toxic but it definitely is dangerous 
Many cultures, from Latin America to East Asia, have a system of hot/cold food. Basically every food is either “hot” or “cold” (and it doesn’t always make sense. I believe in Mexico all soups are “cold”) and there are all kinds of dangers awaiting the person that mixes hot and cold food wrong.
In Cameroon I was told that cold water would give me malaria. Guinness increases you sex drive (so only married people are really supposed to drink it) and sugary soda decreases it. Every day I was told whatever ordinary combination of food I was eating was bound to kill me. People were always genuinely shocked to see me walking around after I ate lunch.
In China it’s even worse. Everyone worries about my health because coffee does some sort of horrible damage to women. Tomatoes are good for the skin. Eating just the right amount of ginger is good, but too much is bad. Every food seems to be “better if a man eats it” or “very good for women.” Everything has some kind of dramatic health effect and damned if it all doesn’t bring good luck.
It’s a hard, scratchy leaf. I can see why you’d fish it out of your soup, silly!
It’s just not poisonous.
Mom told me it was safe to cook with but poisonous to eat. What magic is involved in that? 
I remember when red food coloring was supposed to make kids go mental. Some kids I knew were not allowed to eat hot dogs or drink red Kool-Aid.
AFAIK, bay leaves are mildly poisonous, at least when fresh. So are juniper berries, a traditional spice in many Scandi foods and drinks.
I have always believed the story about Bay Leaves. I Googled for a definitive answer.:rolleyes:
Thisone, I trust.
Fish is brain food.
And how many foods are thought to be aphrodisiacs, or increase sexual potency?
Green M & M’s are an aphrodisiac.
They brainwashed you too…
No, it can’t.
I’ve prepared you a cup of delicious bass.
I would love to know the genesis of this. I’ve been hearing it for 30 years, at least as long as I’ve known what “aphrodisiac” meant. What was the imagined logic behind the scenes at M&M Mars for this one? Are they asparagus-flavored or something?
Got a link?
Although those two have authored a nice artilce on Medical Myths, I can’t find your quote, or anything about sugar.
There’s this from differnt authors:
Studies examining the effects of sugar ingestion on the behavior of children, both normal and hyperactive, were reviewed. Although the results of correlational studies suggested that high levels of sugar consumption may be associated with increased rates of inappropriate behavior, the results of dietary challenge studies have been inconsistent and inconclusive. Most studies have failed to find any effects associated with sugar ingestion, and the few studies that have found effects have been as likely to find sugar improving behavior as making it worse. Design parameters unique to undertaking sugar challenge studies were identified, and suggestions for future research were offeredhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VB8-463G7PM-D&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=192a00a186134b85a433ba8856d29861
I find that very hard to believe, because it’s the first hit on Google when you search the first few words of it. What the heck were you searching? Your back yard with a metal detector?
Wasn’t a big part of the sugar=hyper kids myth related to the fact that kids tend to have a lot of sugar at hyperactive events such as birthday parties? Their behavior was caused by the event and surroundings and not the sugar.
Carrots help you see in the dark.
Port wine gives you gout.
And can I just add off topic that lost4life is in no way connected to me.
(Find it a bit creepy really)
In North India, I was strictly forbidden from drinking cold liquids during winter. Apparently it would give me a cold.
I’ll live dangerously!
One from my grandmother is that the skinny tip of a green bean - the non-stem end that comes almost to a thready point - has ALL of the vitamins. Apparently, there’s no nutritional point to eating the rest of the bean. :dubious:
If you swallow a piece of chewing gum, it will stay in your system for 7 years.
Eating fatty or fried foods will give you acne.