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 103
... supply them with low - cost meat could be raised . The first region to serve this function was Scotland , large areas of which were deforested and converted to pasture in order to supply England with beef and mutton ( and wool ) . It ...
... supply them with low - cost meat could be raised . The first region to serve this function was Scotland , large areas of which were deforested and converted to pasture in order to supply England with beef and mutton ( and wool ) . It ...
Page 162
... supply ? " This sounds like a rational proposition , but it was doomed to failure . From a nutritional standpoint , insect flesh is almost as nour- ishing as red meat or poultry . One hundred grams of African termites contains 610 ...
... supply ? " This sounds like a rational proposition , but it was doomed to failure . From a nutritional standpoint , insect flesh is almost as nour- ishing as red meat or poultry . One hundred grams of African termites contains 610 ...
Page 224
... supplies kept in their storehouses . With their highly productive irrigation agriculture , their fish ponds , and their deep - sea fishing canoes , the Hawaiians , like the Ton- gans and Tahitians , enjoyed a secure and abundant food supply ...
... supplies kept in their storehouses . With their highly productive irrigation agriculture , their fish ponds , and their deep - sea fishing canoes , the Hawaiians , like the Ton- gans and Tahitians , enjoyed a secure and abundant food supply ...
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