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. In Jamaica, for example, wheat flour is the number one source of protein for the poorest 25 percent of the population, with chicken and beef ranking tenth and thirteenth. But for the top 25 percent of Jamaicans, beef and ...
... protein-sparing” diets. If meat is not accompanied by calorie-rich carbohydrate foods, the protein in the meat will be used as a source of energy and will not be available for other physiological functions. Virtually every band or ...
... protein from a nutritional point of view in order for meat distributions to take a quarrelsome turn. As among the Poles, groups such as the Yanomamo are generally well nourished, average as much as seventy-five grams of animal protein ...
... 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 now also know that several species of monkeys not ...
... protein than most plant foods. As compared with most foods ofplant origin, a higher percentage by weight of cooked meat, poultry, or fish consists of protein. And with one or two exceptions, the quality of proteins in foods of animal ...
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 |