How can you test if your food is poisoned?
There are many different kinds of poisons, and some of them
would be very difficult to detect. The traditional method of
detecting poisoned food, used by medieval monarchs, was to have a
food taster who eats some of your food before you do; if the taster
does not become sick, the food is probably not poisoned (although
to be strictly accurate I should note that there exist poisons that
do not have an immediate effect, such as carcinogens which can
result in cancer, months after you eat them, so the food taster
will not always help you). There is no perfect protection against
poisoned food, but if your food is prepared by someone who does not
have any motive to kill you, it is probably not going to be
poisoned. When having dinner with your mortal enemy, beware.