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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... disease caused by vitamin D deficiency. Normally we can get enough vitamin D from the action of sunlight falling on our skin. But in the higher latitudes where winters are long and there are many misty, cloudy days, dietary vitamin D ...
... disease known as beriberi became widespread throughout the Orient. Today the preference for finely milled flour as exemplified in the industrial masterpiece called white bread is often cited as one of the prime examples of a food ...
... disease. In the Lipid Research Clinics Coronary Primary Prevention Trial—the best-designed of these studies—middle-aged men were divided into two groups. One was given the cholesterol-lowering drug cholestryamine, the other a placebo ...
... disease found in countries that consume large amounts of cholesterol and animal fats. Other known dietary risks for heart disease include overconsumption of calories, too much salt, and too much alcohol. (Too much calcium is the latest ...
... disease about which I shall have more to say much later on. The increasing unpopularity of animal foods as a source of dietary fats must also be placed in a historical context. Just as animal foods formerly were more rather than less ...
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 |