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, 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. |
From inside the book
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... Brahman caste reject it entirely; but most Brahmans eat either eggs, poultry, or fish in addition to copious quantities of milk and dairy products. Brahmans, at any rate, constitute a small minority of the Hindu population; all the ...
... Brahmans, Buddhists, and members of 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 ...
... Brahmans, the ruling warrior chiefs or Kshatriyas, the merchants or Vaisyas, and the Sudras or menials. The Vedas neither spurned beef nor protected the cow. In fact in Vedic times the Brahman caste's religious duties centered not on ...
... Brahmans and Kshatriyas continued to slaughter cattle and gorge themselves on beef long after it was impossible to invite ordinary people to share in their good fortune. By about 600 B.C. peasant living standards were in decline, and ...
... must have resonated with the aspirations of the poorer farmers. At a time when ordinary people were starving and in need of oxen to plow their fields, the Brahmans went on killing cattle and getting fat from eating them. 54.
Contents
13 | |
19 | |
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 |