Food and Evolution: Toward a Theory of Human Food HabitsMarvin Harris, Eric B. Ross Many topics of interest to health professionals, such as vegetarianism, dietary fibers, lactose intolerance, favism, cannibalism and changes in nutritional status wrought by the decline of hunter-gathering and the rise of horticulture. Many sections will appeal to the general reader. --Journal of Applied NutritionThe old adage you are what you eat may be more accurate than anyone could have ever imagined. This unprecedented interdisciplinary effort by scholars in primatology, biological anthropology, archaeology, nutrition, psychology, agricultural economics, and cultural anthropology suggests that there is a systematic theory behind why humans eat what they eat.Includes discussions ranging in time from prehistory to the present, and from the most simple societies to the most complex, including South American Indian groups, African hunter-gatherers, and countries such as India, Bangladesh, Peru, and Mexico.Exceptionally well-edited. High quality individual papers are of comparable scope and are uniformly well referenced and detailed in presentation of supporting data Introductory and concluding chapters as well as section overviews create an integrated whole.--ChoiceCompelling...complete and...recommended.--Science Books & FilmsShould be of value to all nutrition educators who have an interest in the social, cultural, and international aspects of foods and nutrition.--Journal of Nutrition Education |
Contents
| 5 | |
| 7 | |
| 57 | |
Bioevolutionary Antecedents and Constraints | 91 |
Primate Diets and Gut Morphology Implications for Hominid Evolution | 93 |
Omnivorous Primate Diets and Human Overconsumption of Meat | 117 |
Fava Bean Consumption A Case for the CoEvolution of Genes and Culture | 133 |
Nutritional and Biopsychological Constraints | 161 |
Ecological and Structural Influences on the Proportions of Wild Foods in the Diets of Two Machiguenga Communities | 387 |
Limiting Factors in Amazonian Ecology | 407 |
The Political Economy and the Political Ecology of Contemporary Foodways | 423 |
Loaves and Fishes in Bangladesh | 427 |
Animal Protein Consumption and the Sacred Cow Complex in India | 445 |
The Effects of Colonialism and Neocolonialism on the Gastronomic Patterns of the Third World | 455 |
Stability and Change in Highland Andean Dietary Patterns | 481 |
Social Class and Diet in Contemporary Mexico | 517 |
Problems and Pitfalls in the Assessment of Human Nutritional Status | 163 |
Psychobiological Perspectives on Food Preferences and Avoidances | 181 |
The Preference for Animal Protein and Fat A CrossCultural Survey | 207 |
Biocultural Consequences of Animals Versus Plants as Sources of Fats Proteins and Other Nutrients | 225 |
PreState Foodways Past and Present | 259 |
The Significance of LongTerm Changes in Human Diet and Food Economy | 261 |
Life in the Garden of Eden Causes and Consequences of the Adoption of Marine Diets by Human Societies | 285 |
The Analysis of HunterGatherer Diets Stalking an Optimal Foraging Model | 311 |
How Much Food Do Foragers Need? | 341 |
Aboriginal Subsistence in a Tropical Rain Forest Environment Food Procurement Cannibalism and Population Regulation in Northeastern Australia | 357 |
From Costa Rican Pasture to North American Hamburger | 541 |
Discussion and Conclusions | 563 |
The Evolution of Human Subsistence | 565 |
Biocultural Aspects of Food Choice | 579 |
AFTERWORD | 595 |
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS | 601 |
GLOSSARY | 607 |
| 613 | |
| 625 | |
Other editions - View all
Food And Evolution: Toward a Theory of Human Food Habits Marvin Harris,Eric B. Ross Limited preview - 1987 |
Food and Evolution: Toward a Theory of Human Food Habits Marvin Harris,Eric B. Ross No preview available - 1987 |
Common terms and phrases
Aboriginal Academic Press Aché adaptive agricultural American amino acids animal foods animal protein Anthropology archaeological areas aversions baboons Bangladesh beef behavior biocultural biological calories Camana carbohydrates cattle Chacma Baboons chimpanzees coastal consumed consumption Costa Rica costs crops cultural deficiency diet dietary patterns disease Ecology economic effects energy Evolution example exploitation factors fava beans Favism fish food preferences foodways forest genetic grams groups highland hominid households Human Food hunter-gatherers hunters hunting important increase India individuals intake Journal Katz labor legumes levels Machiguenga maize malaria malnutrition meat metabolic milk nutrients nutritional omnivorous optimal foraging optimal foraging theory Paleopathology percent plant foods population Prehistoric primates production protein rain-forest region relatively rice Rozin rural season selection shellfish Shimaa social societies sources species Strategies studies subsistence suggest taboos tion University Press vegetarian village vitamin wheat women Yanomami York
Popular passages
Page 26 - ... good. I have often heard it said that the Scots will not eat it. This may be ranked among the rest of the prejudices ; for this kind of food is common in the Lowlands, and Aberdeen in particular is famous for furnishing families with pickled pork for winter provision, as well as their shipping. I own I never saw any swine among the mountains, and there is good reason for it : those people have no offal wherewith to feed them ; and were they to give them other food, one single sow would devour...
Page 58 - We can understand, too, that natural species are chosen not because they are good to eat but because they are 'good to think.
Page 36 - The most eminent of them even asserted that 'the opening of the twentieth century saw malnutrition more rife in England than it had been since the great dearths of medieval and Tudor...