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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... consumption of animal protein in 1980 was sixty-five grams per day per person—only four grams more than Poland's—and calorie consumption was almost exactly even. I admit that per capita averages cover up some painful details. In Poland ...
... consumption. In 1981 the people of the Soviet bloc consumed 126 million tons of grain while their animals consumed 186 million tons. In Western eyes big grain imports prove that the Soviet farm system is an utter failure. In Soviet eyes ...
... Consumption of eggs "and animal flesh from the diet of ordinary people. Hindu foodways in this regard simply do not ... consumed by Hindu Indians amounts to less than a gram per day per capita, but that is because all kinds of animal ...
... consumption of animal protein rose 37 percent while plant protein consumption fell by 3 percent. On a worldwide basis the consumption of grain by livestock is rising twice as fast as the consumption of grain by people. Within most ...
... consumption of domestic animals a principal focus of their sacraments. The very idea of sacrifice, fundamental to the formative doctrines of Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam, arose from the sharing of meat in the camps and ...
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 |