In quest of ambrosia

This is one those verses that I find amusing for the sheer fervor with which they describe the simple joys of day-to-day life.

Devanagari text:

 केचिद्वदन्त्यमृतमस्ति पुरे सुराणां केचिद्वदन्ति वनिताधरपल्लवेषु|
ब्रूमो वयं सकलशास्त्रविचारदक्षा जम्बीरनीरपरिपूरितमत्स्यखण्डे||

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

kecidvadantyamRtamasti pure surANAM kecidvadanti vanitAdharapallaveSu|
brUmo vayaM sakalazAstravicAradakSA jambIranIraparipUritamastyakhaNDe||

– Anonymous

Loose translation: Some claim that ambrosia can be found in the city of the gods. Others contend that it exists in the bud-like (tender) lips of a woman. But, having achieved the qualifications to pass judgment on (matters concerning) all academic disciplines, I declare that it resides in a piece of fish steeped in lemon juice. 

Source: Verse 828 of the Vidyakara Sahasrakam. I believe that this verse is not very old and was penned by a scholar from Mithila.

Notes: Some might find the verse anticlimactic or even outrageous. But being a hardcore piscivorous Bengali, I whole-heartedly concur with our unknown poet! 

It is worthwhile to mention here a "healthy recipe" that I found in the medieval Bengali encyclopedic work Daaka Charitra (ডাকচরিত্র), a manuscript of which dating back to 1683-84 CE is preserved by the Bangiya Sahitya Parishad:

পোনা মাছ জামিরের রসে।      কাসন্দি দিআ জে জন পরষে।।।
তাহা খাইলে অরুচ্য পালাএ।                  ...                     

which roughly translates to "one can recover one's lost appetite by eating carp soaked in lemon juice and served with Kasundi relish." Historically, Mithila and Bengal used to have close cultural ties.