How does Cleopatra's food taster survive poisoning?
- In "Astérix and Cleopatra", how does the taster survive that long (although crying OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH all the time) after eating an average-sized slice of the poisoned cake ? I know some poisons don't act fast, but according the Animated Adaptation, the cake includes two glasses of gasoil, cyanide, curare… At least he shouldn't be conscious!?
- Same way people survive having menhirs fall on their heads, I guess.
- Most poison-tasters at this time were known to be 'tested' by consuming small doses of poison so that their bodies would build up an immunity to it; the taster may have encountered so many genuine poisons in his career that he was relatively resistant to the effects of this one, even if it would still have been fatal without Getafix's involvement.
- There's also the possibility that his relatively rotund figure kept him alive for a while. In "Asterix and the Banquet", when a treacherous innkeep tries to drug our heroes, Asterix doesn't eat and forces the innkeep to take a taste. The man barely eats a bite and passes out. Meanwhile, Obelix is not even affected by it, despite having scarfed a whole boar, most likely because of his sheer weight. Of course, the Food Taster likely would have died if Getafix hadn't prepared an antidote.
