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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... diseases. Mothers may benefit slightly from substituting bottled milk for breast milk because they can leave their babies in someone else's care while they go off to find a job in a factory. But by cutting short their period of ...
... diseases in affluent societies, animal foods are more critical for sound nutrition than 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 ...
... disease. But when the population of a village gets bigger, its hunters deplete the nearby game. There are more meatless days, complaints about meat hunger increase, and some men find it increasingly difficult to fulfill their obligation ...
... disease were not safe under the old standards. As explained by Nevin Scrimshaw of the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at M.I.T., infections result in an increased need for amino acids. Under stress, the body mobilizes all the ...
... disease such as measles or diphtheria, children can experience growth spurts five times higher than normal—provided they can get enough protein in their diet. Women who are pregnant or lactating also can benefically consume far more ...
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 |