On Saturday, April 10, 2004, at 05:45  PM, Gerard Farrell wrote:

> Thank you, Jean-Claude!
> I hope I don't bore anyone with questions that have probably been
> answered
> 100's if times before, but I can't figure out why we can't eat peanuts
> (Monkey nuts).

 From the general rule that we don't eat legumes. The great majority of
legumes are poisonous raw. Some are even poisonous after cooking. There
are a few exceptions, like green beans, snow peas, and peanuts that can
be eaten raw with little trouble. I think that is not a hard and fast
rule, Audette in Neanderthin even says that there have been few
scientifically verified problems with bean eating. Personally, I eat
few beans, but do sometimes. Peanuts tend to give me heartburn, so I
only eat a few at a time.