Daniel 1:15

[Daniel 1:15] U-mi-ketzat... nir’ah (וּמִקְצָת... נִרְאָה - And at the end of... appeared): The meaning is: their entire appearance [looked good]. And the Gaon [Saadia Gaon] said: This was a great miracle. But [Ibn Ezra argues] there is no need [to assume a miracle], because they could have been eating rice (orez - אוֹרֶז), which is called in the Arabic language aruz (ארוז). And it [rice] is very esteemed/excellent, and more pleasing/palatable than wheat, and produces pure blood [according to medieval medicine]. It is the food of the people of India, who do not have wheat, and cooked dishes are made from it. And this rice flourishes/increases greatly [in volume] when it is cooked with milk. In general, a small amount of it [rice] satiates, and it is heavy in weight. Its grains are very slender and not round, and its nature [in humoral terms, i.e., its inherent quality according to medieval science] is hot and moist. And it is astonishing [coming] from a great Sage that he said it [the zero’im] was millet (dochan - דֹּחַן), whose grains are round. It lasts for many years and does not rot, but it is a poor food, and its nature is cold and dry [the opposite qualities needed for looking healthy, according to humoral theory]. Also, among the types of legumes (kitniyot - קִטְנִיּוֹת) are peas (afunim - אֲפוּנִים) – but not those [types] found in France, because those are cold [in nature], bad [food], and cause flatulence. Rather, the peas [Ibn Ezra refers to] are those found in Spain, Egypt, Rome [area], and Provence. They are of three types: some white, some red, and some black – and this [black] type is the most esteemed of all. All three types are hot and moist [in nature]. And their cooking water is a remedy for the liver. They brighten the face more than wine. (And a person can recognize that those [peas] in France are without a 'mouth' [perhaps referring to a distinct seam or characteristic shape], whereas the three [good] types have a 'mouth'). And behold, rice and [these good] peas are [types of] legumes/seeds (zero’im), and they make the flesh healthy (mavri’im et ha-basar - מַבְרִיאִים אֶת הַבָּשָׂר) [echoing the verse's phrase beri’ei basar (בְּרִיאֵי בָשָׂר), healthy of flesh]. Furthermore, any food that is desired by the soul/appetite is more beneficial than food that the soul/appetite does not like, even if [the disliked food] is hot and moist according to the [ideal] nature of living things [i.e., even if it matches the body's ideal humoral balance]. And behold, these [youths] were eating something that their soul/appetite desired [since they chose it over the king's food], and [therefore] it was beneficial for them.