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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... populations, the reason baboons consume only small quantities of meat may be more a matter of necessity than choice: they have difliculty finding and capturing suitable prey. Whenever there is a choice, claims William Hamilton, the ...
... populations which cannot alford finely milled flour are at risk for deficiency anemias caused by the binding of phytic ... population whose diet contains significant amounts of meat, fish, or poultry need not shrink from enjoying the ...
... population starting in childhood. Also, there may be hidden dangers in reducing fat intake. Fat, after all, is necessary for a healthy diet if for no other reason than it is needed for the absorption, transport, and storage of vitamins ...
... population is sorely in need of more proteins and calories, the refusal to kill and eat cattle seems to be “plainly contrary to economic interest.” Has not the very phrase sacred cow passed into common usage as an idiom denoting ...
... Population grew, forests shrank, grazing lands were put to the plow, and the old semipastoralist way of life gave way to intensive farming and dairying. Simple energy relationships underwrote the transition: more people can be fed by ...
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 |