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Good to Eat: Riddles of Food and Culture 6/15/98 Edition

by Marvin Harris (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 46 ratings
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Why 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, bestselling author Marvin Harris leads readers on an informative detective adventure to solve the world's major food puzzles. He explains the diversity of the world's gastronomic customs, demonstrating that what appear at first glance to be irrational food tastes turn out really to have been shaped by practical, or 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 it's "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.

Title of related interest also available from Waveland Press: Kahn, Always Hungry, Never Greedy: Food and the Expression of Gender in a Melanesian Society (ISBN 9780881337761).

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  1. ISBN-10
    1577660153
  2. ISBN-13
    978-1577660156
  3. Edition
    6/15/98
  4. Publisher
    Waveland Pr Inc
  5. Publication date
    June 30, 1998
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    5.75 x 0.75 x 8.5 inches
  8. Print length
    289 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book offers a lively anthropological engagement of dietary habits and food cultures. Broad in scope and sensitive in its analytic insight, Harris' work is an accessible piece of work for anyone curious to learn more about why people choose to eat differently and how food has cultural connections on a myriad of levels." -- Eve Bratman, American University --From the Back Cover

"Marvin Harris writes well and simply. He routinely puts a spin to his theory and data that makes good reading." --Martha C. Ward, University of New Orleans

"Very informative and well-researched. My students are enjoying the book and we are having excellent discussions on the material. It is very instrumental for teaching cultural relativism and cultural materialism." --Jenna Strizzi, Roger Williams University

From the Back Cover

"This book offers a lively anthropological engagement of dietary habits and food cultures. Broad in scope and sensitive in its analytic insight, Harris' work is an accessible piece of work for anyone curious to learn more about why people choose to eat differently and how food has cultural connections on a myriad of levels." -- Eve Bratman, American University

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Waveland Pr Inc; 6/15/98 edition (June 30, 1998)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 289 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1577660153
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1577660156
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 0.75 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 46 ratings

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Marvin Harris

Marvin Harris

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4.2 out of 5 stars
46 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book's content engaging and informative. They appreciate the insightful history lessons on food culture and its sturdiness. The book was used but in great condition.

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6 customers mention "Book content"6 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book's content. They find it informative and engaging, with insightful history lessons on food culture. The book also provides interesting insights into food contradictions like why Hindus won't eat.

"Chapter by chapter, food by food, culture by culture, it is shown how the theory of Cultural Materialism explains food preferences and religious laws." Read more

"...While providing many fascinating and insightful history lessons on food culture, the underlying point of Harris' book is that no matter how..." Read more

"I enjoy reading this book a lot." Read more

"...This book was great for what I wanted, and the price was very reasonable!..." Read more

3 customers mention "Sturdiness"3 positive0 negative

Customers like the book's sturdiness. They mention it was used, but in terrific condition.

"...I got it in time for the class and it was used, but in terrific condition. Highly recommend it!" Read more

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Top reviews from the United States

  • D K
    5.0 out of 5 stars excellent
    Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    Chapter by chapter, food by food, culture by culture, it is shown how the theory of Cultural Materialism explains food preferences and religious laws.
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  • Oriana S.
    4.0 out of 5 stars What's for dinner?
    Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    "Good to Eat" delves into the complex reasons behind why certain foods are taboo in various cultures, from the familiar (Hindu aversion to beef, Muslim aversion to pork) to the more unseemly (Westerners' aversion to eating cats and dogs, the nigh-universal disdain towards cannibalism). While providing many fascinating and insightful history lessons on food culture, the underlying point of Harris' book is that no matter how arbitrary a culture's food preferences seem, those preferences emerge as practical reactions to one's ecological, political, and social environment. Hopefully, readers will gain from the text a greater degree of sympathy for cuisines they find strange or disgusting, and maybe even consider their own assumptions about what's "good to eat" with a more critical eye.
    One person found this helpful
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  • T. M. McBroom
    5.0 out of 5 stars Good to Eat book
    Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    I bought this book for a class I was taking. I got it in time for the class and it was used, but in terrific condition. Highly recommend it!
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  • snake
    5.0 out of 5 stars book
    Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2022
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    good
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  • Amazon Customer
    1.0 out of 5 stars One Star
    Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Sorry, something wrong here. Can't download on any of my devices.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Amanda Duffy
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Great Condition
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  • Jiazhi Yang
    4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book with precise analysis
    Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2021
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    I enjoy reading this book a lot.
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  • Carno Polo
    5.0 out of 5 stars eye-opening account of why we eat what we eat
    Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2013
    This is a highly readable account of why the world's diverse civilizations eat what they eat; why peoples in different parts of the world grow to abhor certain readily available foodstuffs; and why they usually don't eat each other.

    The starting point of the book is man's generalized craving for animal food (meat, fish, milk, eggs), because it is a source of more and better proteins than vegetarian alternatives. Only soybeans approach animal food in this respect, though plant food provide indispensable fibers. Despite the evil effects of too much meat, grain eaters tend to live less. Top primates, including man, tend to be omnivorous, an obvious advantage over animals dependent on fewer food categories.

    Harris explains why Indians don't (by and large) eat beef, though they did in the past. It was at the time of Asoka (3rd century B.C.) that once widespread animal sacrifices were stamped out to prevent loss of animal plow-pulling power, dung and milk. And yet, beef is eaten in India and calfs are regularly slaughtered when not needed.

    In the Middle East, the problem with pork is not so much its being prone to carry disease in hot weather or if not cooked properly: that is not unique to pork or to the Middle East. Pork is a staple in hot climates from the Indian ocean to the Pacific. It is the fact that in Middle Eastern circumstances pigs need extra shelter, water and lots of plant food that humans themselves can eat. Pigs are sometimes seen as dirty, but given enough water they are anything but. In Papua, women will sometimes breastfeed a pig if somehow it gets separated from the sow.

    Horses were banned from the grill in the middle ages because they were more useful alive to be mounted in war. A war horse was worth more than a slave. later, horses never became a main source of meat because cattle and pigs are far more efficient producers of proteins.

    Dairy products are not eaten by most peoples in East Asia. They can not digest lactose. Why? Because the condition of their agriculture never required as much plowing as elsewhere and therefore not as much milk producing animals.

    Most people in the world eat insects. Europeans and Americans are the exception rather than the rule. At least now: the ancient Greeks and Romans did eat cicadas and grasshoppers. That's because for us it is less efficient to chase insects than raise animals in a farm as a source of food. There are billions of insects out there to provide us with proteins, but they are small and mostly hard to get.

    And the book goes on, discussing at great length why people, by and large, don't eat one another... but I'll leave that to the reader to discover in the book!

    Highly recommended.
    One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • pagh
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book. Now
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 20, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    just one of the most interesting and curious book I ever read in non-fiction. A classic. I memorized most of it as it answers so many strange but popular questions in food and eating. Fantastic book. Now, every time someone says "I do not understand why we don't eat insects usually", or "I don't like the idea of eating horse meat!" I know how to reply...
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  • Jorge
    5.0 out of 5 stars ¿ porqué comemos o repudiamos unos alimentos u otros? repuesta antropológica acompañada de reseña científica
    Reviewed in Spain on June 8, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Desmontando y diseccionando creencias sobre el porqué de la existencia de tabúes culturales y el consumo de determinados alimentos. Muy interesante para tener un conocimiento más profundo acerca de las costumbres gastronómicas y sus razones.
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