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 57
... oxen instead of tractors to pull plows ? Not at all . Virtually every study that has ever been carried out to determine the relative efficiency of tractors versus oxen shows that the animals are more cost - efficient per unit of crop ...
... oxen instead of tractors to pull plows ? Not at all . Virtually every study that has ever been carried out to determine the relative efficiency of tractors versus oxen shows that the animals are more cost - efficient per unit of crop ...
Page 59
... oxen as cows . But in parts of southern India where rice is the principal crop , and the typical half - acre " postage - stamp " farms are too small to support plow animals , farmers raise three times as many cows as oxen . Since the ...
... oxen as cows . But in parts of southern India where rice is the principal crop , and the typical half - acre " postage - stamp " farms are too small to support plow animals , farmers raise three times as many cows as oxen . Since the ...
Page 62
... oxen or as a means of acquiring oxen for the first time adds to the cow's contribution . Of course , from the point of view of modern animal husbandry , it would be far more efficient to feed a smaller number of cows properly and to get ...
... oxen or as a means of acquiring oxen for the first time adds to the cow's contribution . Of course , from the point of view of modern animal husbandry , it would be far more efficient to feed a smaller number of cows properly and to get ...
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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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