Good to Eat: Riddles of Food and CultureWhy are human food habits so diverse? Why do Americans recoil at the thought of dog meat? Jews and Moslems, pork? Hindus, beef? Why do Asians abhor milk? In Good to Eat, bestselling author Marvin Harris leads readers on an informative detective adventure to solve the world's major food puzzles. He explains the diversity of the world's gastronomic customs, demonstrating that what appear at first glance to be irrational food tastes turn out really to have been shaped by practical, or economic, or political necessity. In addition, his smart and spirited treatment sheds wisdom on such topics as why there has been an explosion in fast food, why history indicates that it's "bad" to eat people but "good" to kill them, and why children universally reject spinach. Good to Eat is more than an intellectual adventure in food for thought. It is a highly readable, scientifically accurate, and fascinating work that demystifies the causes of myriad human cultural differences. |
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Page 127
... chicken than beef by the end of the century . The chicken revolution was long overdue . By nature and breed- ing , chickens are about as efficient as pigs in converting grain to meat and five times more efficient than cattle . Some of ...
... chicken than beef by the end of the century . The chicken revolution was long overdue . By nature and breed- ing , chickens are about as efficient as pigs in converting grain to meat and five times more efficient than cattle . Some of ...
Page 128
... chicken sandwich . When food experts tell us that food habits are the parts of culture that change most slowly - so slowly that America's pref- erence for beef harks back to Vedic times — they have obviously not paid much attention to ...
... chicken sandwich . When food experts tell us that food habits are the parts of culture that change most slowly - so slowly that America's pref- erence for beef harks back to Vedic times — they have obviously not paid much attention to ...
Page 129
... chicken eats better than three fifths of the people in the world . And ener- getically speaking , each calorie of chicken breast costs at least six calories of fossil fuel . This means that the sumptuous diet of America's chickens ( and ...
... chicken eats better than three fifths of the people in the world . And ener- getically speaking , each calorie of chicken breast costs at least six calories of fossil fuel . This means that the sumptuous diet of America's chickens ( and ...
Contents
ONE Good to Think or Good to Eat? | 13 |
TWO Meat Hunger | 19 |
THREE The Riddle of the Sacred Cow | 47 |
Copyright | |
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Aborigines agricultural American amino acids animal flesh animal foods anthropologist aversion Aztecs beef body bones Brahmans breeds calcium calories camel cattle chicken Chinese cholesterol consume consumption cooked corn costs cud-chewers cultures dairy diet dietary dingoes disease dogflesh dogs domestic animals drinking eaten ecological efficient enemy Europe European fact farmers fast-food feed fish foodways forest goats grain grams hamburgers Hindu horseflesh horsemeat horses human flesh hunting Ibid Indians insectivory insects Islam Israelites killing lactase sufficiency lactase-deficient lactose lactose intolerance large numbers leafy vegetables less Leviticus line 14 line 32 live locusts meat hunger milk Moslems mutton nutritional optimal foraging theory osteomalacia oxen percent pets plant foods plows population pork pounds practice preference prisoners protein raising ritual ruminants sheep skin slaughter societies sources of animal species spurn Staden taboo Tamil Nadu trichinosis Tupinamba vitamin vitamin D warfare cannibalism women xerophthalmia York