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. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 51
Page 24
... less influential religious groups such as the Jains and Seventh - Day Adventists would take me far afield . For the moment , all I need to say is that less than 1 percent of the world's population voluntarily spurns every type of flesh ...
... less influential religious groups such as the Jains and Seventh - Day Adventists would take me far afield . For the moment , all I need to say is that less than 1 percent of the world's population voluntarily spurns every type of flesh ...
Page 43
... less fat in wild animals but its composition is different . Wild game contains over five times more polyun ... less than thirty milligrams of cholesterol and less than sixty calories per ounce . One could therefore eat as much as 283 ...
... less fat in wild animals but its composition is different . Wild game contains over five times more polyun ... less than thirty milligrams of cholesterol and less than sixty calories per ounce . One could therefore eat as much as 283 ...
Page 242
... less food than bigger babies , children , and adults . Or does this belief simply reflect the fact that small , undernourished mothers have less painful and less dangerous deliveries with small rather than large babies ? Or is it again ...
... less food than bigger babies , children , and adults . Or does this belief simply reflect the fact that small , undernourished mothers have less painful and less dangerous deliveries with small rather than large babies ? Or is it again ...
Contents
ONE Good to Think or Good to Eat? | 13 |
TWO Meat Hunger | 19 |
THREE The Riddle of the Sacred Cow | 47 |
Copyright | |
11 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
American amount animal foods Aztecs became become beef better body calcium calories camel cannibalism carried cattle CHAPTER consume consumption contain continued cooked costs cultures dead developed diet dingoes disease dogs domesticated drinking eaten efficient enemy entirely Europe European example explanation fact farmers feed fish flesh four give goats grain groups hamburgers Hindu horsemeat horses human hunting important increase Indians insects killing kind lack lactose lactose intolerance land less levels live means meat milk natural never nutritional percent pets plant population pork pounds practice preference Press prevent prisoners problem protection protein raising reason relatives remains result rickets sheep skin slaughter societies species supply taboo things United University vegetables village vitamin warfare women York