Cleopatra's taster

Cleopatra's taster

For his first appearance in Asterix and Cleopatra in 1963, the Queen's official taster proudly wore a pale green colour, which allowed him to speculate at length on the relativity of tastes and colours…

Rather the distastes, to be precise, as our man suffered from excruciating stomach pains caused by a cake poisoned by Artifis and offered to Cleopatra on behalf of the Gauls (it should be pointed out that the cake's recipe is detailed in song by Artifis and his scribe and henchman Krukhut in the animation film Asterix and Cleopatra).

Immediately accused of attempting to kill the Queen, then imprisoned for a wrongdoing they did not commit, our Indomitables are saved from mishap thanks to an antidote concocted by Getafix, who heals our sick taster and convinces Cleopatra of the innocuousness of the cake. Getafix explains the taster's ailment as a sick stomach after eating too much rich food. Cleopatra fires him then. Follows a series of puns on this taster so happy to quit a job so distasteful that it was poisoning his life!