The Farting Club (1720s)
Farts have always been funny, and the Farting Club structured a whole menu to facilitate this comedic purpose. At the height of their existence, author Edward Ward documented the menu that assisted the Farting Club in its primary mission of producing the loudest, most noxious flatulence. “[T]hey used to diet themselves against their Club-Nights with Cabbage, Onions, and Pease-Porridge.”
This was supplemented with laxatives and washed down with juniper water and ale, ensuring the members turned into a literal gas bag. Once that horrific brew started to do their job, members were to stay in the room while a judge would determine the best fart of the evening, and woe to the member who had a “Brewer’s Miscarriage” and had to explain the brown stain in his breeches.
