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 22
... plant foods . I don't mean to say that animal foods are so good to eat that we can dispense with plant foods altogether . We are best off when we consume both kinds . Rather , my contention is that while plant foods can sustain life ...
... plant foods . I don't mean to say that animal foods are so good to eat that we can dispense with plant foods altogether . We are best off when we consume both kinds . Rather , my contention is that while plant foods can sustain life ...
Page 31
... plant foods . As compared with most foods of plant origin , a higher percentage by weight of cooked meat , poultry , or fish consists of protein . And with one or two exceptions , the quality of proteins in foods of animal origin is ...
... plant foods . As compared with most foods of plant origin , a higher percentage by weight of cooked meat , poultry , or fish consists of protein . And with one or two exceptions , the quality of proteins in foods of animal origin is ...
Page 33
... plant foods are very different from the ratios in which they occur in the human body . They therefore cease to be useful for protein assembly more quickly than animal foods since the the least abundant essential amino acids in plants ...
... plant foods are very different from the ratios in which they occur in the human body . They therefore cease to be useful for protein assembly more quickly than animal foods since the the least abundant essential amino acids in plants ...
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