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. |
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... insects than anyone previously believed. This has cleared up a long-standing puzzle about the way monkeys feed in ... insect larva than in the fruit. They open a weevil-infested fig, eat the weevil, and discard the fig. Some eat both ...
... insects in them. We now also know that several species of monkeys not only consume insects but actively pursue small game. Baboons are especially keen hunters. During a single year of observation in Kenya, Robert Harding saw baboons ...
... insect residues or by certain cobalt-digesting bacteria. This explains why when Hindu vegans migrate from India to England they suffer an increase in the incidence of pernicious anemia. In England the use of pesticides and vigorous ...
... insects. In Ahmadabad, the capital of Gujarat, devout Jains from all over the city bring to such a room carefully preserved dirt and sweepings containing insects in need of protection. Attendants place the dirt and sweepings together ...
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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 |