Table Of ContentDRINKING
Anthropological Approaches
......................................................................................................................................
Edited by
Igor and Valerie de Garine
Berghahn Books
New York • Oxford
First published in 2001 by Berghahn Books
www.berghahnbooks.com
© 2001 Igor and Valerie de Garine
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means
without the written permission of Berghahn Books.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Garine, I. de.
Drinking : anthropological approaches / Igor and Valerie de Garine.
p. cm. -- (The anthropology of food and nutrition ; v. 4)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-57181-809-X (alk. paper) -- ISBN 1-57181-315-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Drinking behaviour. I. Garine, Valerie de. II. Title. III. Series.
GT2880.G34 2001
394.1’3--dc21 200035608
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Acatalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Printed in the United States on acid-free paper
ISBN 1-57181-809-X (hardback)
1-57181-315-2 (paperback)
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations v
List of Figures and Map vi
List of Tables vii
Preface viii
1. For a Pluridisciplinary Approach to Drinking 1
Igor de Garine
2. Thirst and Drinking as a Biocultural Process 11
Luis Alberto Vargas
3. Water and Drinking in an Ecological Context among
Australian Aboriginal People Practising Traditional
Subsistence Methods 22
Stanley J. Ulijaszek
4. Nor Any Drop to Drink: Everyday Drinking Habits in Pacific 35
and New Zealand Societies
Nancy J. Pollock
5. Drinking in Northern Cameroon among the Masa and Muzey 51
lgor de Garine
6. Milk Consumption in African Pastoral Peoples 66
Michael A. Little, Sandra J. Gray andBenjamin C. Campbell
7. The Drinking Ritual among the Maasai 87
Fouad N. lbrahim
8. Changing Perceptions on Milk as a Drink in Western Europe: 96
The Case of the Netherlands
Adel P. den Hartog
9. Milk in the Mountains 108
Helen M. Macbeth
10. Wine and Health: The Protective Role of Moderate
Consumption 116
A.M.Troncoso, M.C. Garcia Parrilla and
M.V. Martinez Ortega
iv Contents
11. Drinking: An Almost Silent Language 130
Isabel González Turmo
12. Gender and Drink in Aragon, Spain 144
Luis Cantarero Abad
13. Tapeo: An Identity Model of Public Drink and Food 158
Consumption in Spain
Amado Millan
14. Cantinas and Drinkers in Mexico 169
Ricardo Avila Palafox
15. Tamadoba: Drinking Social Cohesion at the Georgian Table 181
Mary Ellen Chatwin
16. An Ethnographic Account of the Many Roles of Millet Beer in 191
the Culture of the Duupa Agriculturalists, (Poli Mountains)
Northern Cameroon
Eric Garine
17. Socio-Economic and Cultural Implications of Alcoholic 205
Beverages among the Abagusii of Western Kenya
Wilfred K. Subbo
18. Alcohol, Slavery, and African Cultural Continuity in the British 212
Caribbean
Frederick H.Smith
19. Drinking in La Réunion: Between Living, Dying and Forgetting 228
Annie Hubert
20. When is an Alcohol-Containing Substance Something Else? 234
Southeast Asian Definitions
Christine S. Wilson
21. Epilogue 239
Helen M. Macbeth
Index 244
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure 1. ... drinking arki brings pleasure ...
(Muzey, N. Cameroon). 2
Figure 2. ... and to seal a mariage ... among the Yasa and Mvae of
Southern Cameroon. 4
Figure 3. ... drinking water may constitute the final episode of
religious rituals ... (Muzey, N. Cameroon). 52
Figure 4. The African sorrel drink, which is red in colour, is used as
a substitute for wine (Masa, N. Cameroon). 53
Figure 5. Tupuri, Kera, Muzey and Masa use the same ritual drink,
sorghum beer (Tupuri, Chad). 56
Figure 6. Beer is ritually consumed by all categories of individuals,
children as well as the elderly (Muzey, Chad). 57
Figure 7. ... In Andalucia, the gentlemen drank mainly ... manzanilla
(El Rocio pilgrimage). 134
FIGURES AND MAP
Figures
3.1 Modelling sweat loss in Australian hunter-gatherers. The 12-hour
water loss at work load of 440 watts, and a four-hour work period,
according to the time of start of the working day.
Overcast day. 28
3.2 Modelling sweat loss in Australian hunter-gatherers. The 12-hour
water loss at work load of 440 watts and a four-hour work
period, according to the time of start of the working day.
Sunny day (high solar radiation). 28
3.3 Modelling sweat loss in Australian hunter-gatherers. The 12-hour
water loss at work load of 440 watts, and a five-hour work
period, according to the time of start of the working day.
Overcast day. 29
3.4 Modelling sweat loss in Australian hunter-gatherers. The 12-hour
water loss at work load of 440 watts, and a five-hour work
period, according to the time of start of the working day.
Sunny day (high solar radiation). 30
6.1 Seasonal variations in milk production in Karimojong cows. 71
6.2 Variations in milk production of four Ngisonyoka Turkana family
herds in 1980 and 1981, during and after the Lochuudrought. 72
6.3 Intakes of milk and other food categories in 11 pastoral
populationsin Africa. 72
6.4 Methods of milk processing by the Ngisonyoka Turkana pastoralists. 73
6.5 The flow of energy from Ngisonyoka Turkana livestock to
human food. 75
6.6 Supplementation of non-breast feeding foods in Turkana infants
of less than two years of age. 77
8.1 Consumption of milk, milk products and cheese in the Netherlands,
1965–1987. 101
8.2 Number of schoolchildren participating in the Milk-in-School
Progamme in the Netherlands. 102
10.1 French Paradox. 117
10.2 Flavonoids basic structure. 121
10.3 Resveratrol isomers. 125
16.1 Seasonal distribution of productive activities. 192
16.2 Intake frequency of different foods. 194
16.3 The recipe of bummabeer. 195
Map
6.1 A map of Kenya and the surrounding nations of East Africa
showing the distribution of several pastoral populations. 69
TABLES
3.1 Hours spent per day in food-getting activities, among two 24
groups of Australian Aboriginal People in Arnhem Land.
3.2 Sites of collection of meteorological data, by ecological zone. 26
3.3 Average climatic characteristics of the four ecological zones
chosen for heat stress and water loss analysis, during the
month of January. 27
5.1 Distillation of arkina, home-made alcohol of Sorghumand
Pennisetum, among the Muzey. 60
6.1 Camels, cattle, small stock (goats and sheep), TLU (Tropical
Livestock Units), and SSU (Standard Stock Units) per person
in several East African pastoral populations. 70
6.2 Adult cows and milch cows as a percentage of adult cattle in
several East African populations. 70
6.3 Milk consumption as a percentage of total annual food energy
intake for children and adolescents. 78
8.1 Consumption of liquid milk and fermented products in
Western Europe, kg per capita 1997. 97
8.2 Consumption of drinks per head per year in Western Europe,
1985–1995. 103
9.1 Milk as a percentage of breakfast drinks. 109
9.2 Diversity in fat content in supermarket milk in two time periods. 112
9.3 Cerdanya valley and Mediterranean coastal differences in average
frequency of milk drinks in seven-day intake studies – all ages. 113
10.1 Gross estimated phenol content for typical young, light
table wines. 120
12.1 Drink preferences in Aragon. 146
12.2 Drink preferences in Aragon according to age. 147
12.3 Drink preferences in Aragon according to gender. 148
16.1 Proportion of domestic and collective work among the Duupa. 199
PREFACE
T
he International Commission on the Anthropology of Food (I.C.A.F.) is a
commission launched in 1978 under the auspices of the International Union
of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (I.U.A.E.S.). In the framework
of the 14th international congress of the IUAES held in Williamsburg, Vir-
ginia, USA (26 July – 1 August 1998), ICAF organised a symposium on
‘Drinking: An Anthropological Approach’. The meeting was pluridiscipli-
nary and accepted papers from both the biological and social sciences. It dealt
with all categories of beverages: water, milk, natural juices, infusions, fer-
mented and distilled drinks of all kinds …. Topics included the biological con-
sequences of liquid intake, drinking patterns relating to various types of
drinks in different cultures among a variety of biological and social groups,
and the socio-economic and cultural aspects of drinking dealing with material
as well as symbolic and psychopathological dimensions.
Over the last two decades many anthropological books have been devoted
to drinking. They are mostly concerned with alcohol and reflect the views of
social anthropologists. This volume, which arises from the papers presented
at the symposium, tries to avoid moralistic afterthoughts but presents
pluridisciplinary aspects of the ingestion of liquids at large. It covers a fair
range of societies from rural and urban environments, involving Europe,
Africa, Latin America, Malaysia and the Pacific.
Many of the overt and covert meanings of drinking are addressed: from
satisfying biological needs to communicating with humans and the hereafter,
attempting to reach a differential emotional state or seeking good health and
longevity through the ingestion of appropriate beverages. This book attempts
to broaden the common knowledge about drinking and show the complexity
of the factors concerned.
ICAF is grateful to Berghahn Books for their encouragement and for
creating this series devoted to The Anthropology of Food and Nutrition. We
would also like to thank all the contributors and participants in the Williams-
burg symposium. We hope they remember the practical work we had to do
on beverages as fondly as we do.
Igor and Valerie de Garine
December 1999
1. FOR A PLURIDISCIPLINARY
APPROACH TO DRINKING
Igor de Garine
Introduction
D
rinking is a primary human need. However, whereas many studies have been
carried out on food intake, few are available on drinking (Claudian 1970).
Although the human being can subsist much longer without food than without
water, quantitative data on liquid intake is seldom sought when food con-
sumption studies are carried out.
Drinking has a biological function which goes beyond nutrition and is related
to adapting to environmental conditions and energy expenditure. Each culture
has its own particular drinking behaviour (Vargas, this volume), and access to
drinking water may even be a stressful matter (Pollock, this volume). It is prob-
able that degrees of thirst and the accepted stage of urgency in quenching it may
not be the same in every society. For instance, in Mauritania, the camelback
traveller will be welcomed with a large calabash of water mixed with whey, to
which a handful of straw stems has been added in order to prevent him from
swallowing the vessel’s contents in one gulp. Travellers in the desert begin their
journey before sunrise and refrain from drinking as long as possible, which is
not in accordance with scientific recommendations about hydration.
Looking at the question of ingestion of liquids challenges the optimistic
views of the human ecologists of the 1960s in relation to the adaptability and
fitness of hunter- gatherers (Sahlins 1974). Considerable water loss caused by
the blazing sun results in low working capacity, which should not be mis-
taken for leading a leisurely life (Ulijaszek, this volume). A tall and lean
figure, which is valued in our civilisation, is the result of low energy intake; it
leads also, among East African pastoralists, to reduced lean mass and
muscles, and to the inability to work for lengthy periods (Little, this
volume). Taking into account not only solid foods but also liquids sheds a
new light on nutritional adaptation and biological fitness.
When drinking is considered, the focus is mostly on alcoholic beverages,
with a moralistic, welfare concern going back to the nineteenth century and
reflecting certain Northern European puritanical views still active today in the
economically and culturally dominant powers of the West. A large amount of
data has been published on alcoholic drinking, intoxication and its various
causes and consequences, with special reference to culturally and psychologi-
cally vulnerable groups such as ethnic, tribal and socio-economic minorities.
