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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... calorie-rich carbohydrates and meat for their “protein-sparing” effect. Where humans alternate bites of meat with bites of plantains, monkeys achieve the same effect simply by selecting plantains that have lots of insects in them. We ...
... and qualitatively animal foods remain a better source of proteins than plant foods. Perhaps I also need to clairfy how the controversy over calories versus proteins as a solution to world hunger and malnutrition MEAT HUNGER 33.
... calories in the diet prevents the amino acids in plants from being “spared” and used as protein rather than as energy. Raise the energy component of the diet, and the problem of protein malnutrition will disappear, they say. Instead of ...
... calories; it simply fills people up. In fact, one of the most distinctive features of human physiology is that our digestive tract can only cope with small amounts of fiber. In order to derive essential nutrients and energy from a high ...
... calories, too much salt, and too much alcohol. (Too much calcium is the latest entry in this badfor-your-heart contest.) And beyond what we eat, many other factors put people at risk for heart attacks: high blood pressure, smoking ...
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 |