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
... foodways that combine 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 ...
... foodways of different cultures to support the idea that we instinctively recognize animal foods as something we must eat. A more plausible explanation is that our species-given physiology and digestive processes predispose us to learn ...
... foodways, the ban on the slaughter of cattle and the consumption of beef. There is a section of India's federal constitution called the Directive Principles of State Policy which sets forth guidelines for laws to be enacted by state ...
... foodways. The fact that the raj from England was an even more prodigal cow-killer and beef eater than the Moslems served as the focus for waves of civil disobedience which led to India's independence after World War II. In the earliest ...
... foodways, but India's foodways have affected India's religion even more. My justification for saying this lies in the history of Hinduism. The central fact of that history is that cow protection was not always the central fact of ...
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 |