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 142
... green , leafy vegetables . In fact , most of the familiar species of dark green , leafy vegetables were not yet part of the world's inventory of domesticated plants , precisely because they are so unrewarding as a source of energy and ...
... green , leafy vegetables . In fact , most of the familiar species of dark green , leafy vegetables were not yet part of the world's inventory of domesticated plants , precisely because they are so unrewarding as a source of energy and ...
Page 246
... green , leafy vegetables by Third World chil- dren begins to emerge . I shall not argue that avoidance represents an optimization of practical costs and benefits , since I am not prepared to weigh the costs of dying prematurely with ...
... green , leafy vegetables by Third World chil- dren begins to emerge . I shall not argue that avoidance represents an optimization of practical costs and benefits , since I am not prepared to weigh the costs of dying prematurely with ...
Page 247
... green , leafy vegetables and less rice ? If so , it may not be irrational to spurn green , leafy vegetables . Who can blame hungry weanling chil- dren for not wanting to be fed on leaves - next to water and grass , the least efficient ...
... green , leafy vegetables and less rice ? If so , it may not be irrational to spurn green , leafy vegetables . Who can blame hungry weanling chil- dren for not wanting to be fed on leaves - next to water and grass , the least efficient ...
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