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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... proteins, vitamins, or minerals per serving than avoided foods. But there are other costs and benefits that may override the nutritive value of foods and make them good or bad to eat. Some foods are highly nutritious, but people spurn ...
... proteins and calories available for humans. In the case of Hindu India, as we shall see, the ecological impracticality of meat production so far outweighs the nutritional benefits of carnivory that meat is avoided—bad to eat, and ...
... protein per day. In 1980 Poles were getting not sixty but over one hundred grams of protein per day. In fact they had sixty-one grams from animal foods alone—meat, fish, poultry, and dairy products—enough to satisfy the recommended ...
... protein, it takes four grams of protein in the grains to produce one gram of protein in the meat. In order for the United States to support its current meat consumption habits, 80 percent of the grain grown on United States farms has to ...
... 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 societies, developed as ...
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 |