Good to Eat: Riddles of Food and Culture

Front Cover
Waveland Press, Jul 2, 1998 - Social Science - 289 pages

Why 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, best-selling author Marvin Harris leads readers on an informative detective adventure to solve the worlds major food puzzles. He explains the diversity of the worlds gastronomic customs, demonstrating that what appear at first glance to be irrational food tastes turn out really to have been shaped by practical, 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 its 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.

 

Contents

Good to Think or Good to Eat?
13
Meat Hunger
19
The Riddle of the Sacred Cow
47
The Abominable Pig
67
Hippophagy
88
Holy Beef USA
109
Lactophiles and Lactophobes Milk Lovers and Milk Haters
130
Small Things
154
Dogs Cats Dingoes and Other Pets
175
People Eating
199
Better to Eat
235
References
249
Bibliography
258
Index
275
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