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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No major world religion has ever urged its followers to practice veganism, nor
entirely banned the Consumption of eggs "and animal flesh from the diet of
ordinary people. Hindu foodways in this regard simply do not conform to popular
...
As Buddhists grow older they worry a great deal about complying with the ban on
killing animals, but they can always get ... The explanation of aversions to animal
flesh among Brahmans, Buddhists, and members of less influential religious ...
sess significant domesticated sources of animal flesh, eggs, or milk, lack of
success in the hunt may lead to quarrels, a split in the community, and the
outbreak of warfare between neighboring camps and settlements. There need
not be any ...
In hallowing animal butchery as sacrifice, and in feeding the gods on animal flesh
, ancient peoples expressed their own craving for meat and other animal
products. Or taking a slightly different point of view, animal flesh was so good to
eat that ...
Animal foods even contain enough vitamin C to satisfy daily recommended
allowances. By eating copious amounts of animal flesh and bone marrow, the
Eskimo maintained themselves in excellent health on an all-meat diet without the
...
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Good to eat: riddles of food and culture
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictWhy are the world's food habits or "foodways,'' as Harris refers to them, so diverse? In this scholarly yet fast-paced and very readable work, anthropologist Harris argues that "major differences in ... Read full review
Contents
| 13 | |
| 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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Bibliographic information
| Title | Good to Eat: Riddles of Food and Culture |
| Author | Marvin Harris |
| Publisher | Waveland Press, 1998 |
| ISBN | 1478608927, 9781478608929 |
| Length | 289 pages |
| Subjects | › › Social Science / Agriculture & Food Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |