When you’re hungry, you probably dig right in to your pizza or burger. But throughout history, some rulers were much more cautious.
Many kings and queens feared that their enemies would try to poison them. Before a meal reached a royal leader’s table, they had food tasters take a bite or sip to make sure it was safe. Tasters could only hope that no one wanted to kill the king or queen that day!
At least one food taster clearly didn’t like his job. In 54 A.D., the Roman Emperor Claudius died after eating a poisoned meal. His food taster Halotus was a main suspect!