Everyone eats: understanding food and culture

364 Pages·2014·4.02 MB·English

by  Anderson, Eugene Newton

EvEryonE Eats
Second Edition
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EvEryonE Eats
Understanding Food and Culture
Second Edition
E. N. Anderson
a
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
www.nyupress.org
© 2014 by New York University
All rights reserved
References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing.
Neither the author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs that
may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.
LIbRaRY O f CONgRESS CaTaLOgINg-IN-PUbLICa TION DaTa
Anderson, Eugene N. (Eugene Newton), 1941–
Everyone eats : understanding food and culture / E. N. Anderson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8147-7014-6 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8147-6006-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Food habits. 2. Food preferences. I. Title.
GT2850.A6644 2004
394.1’2—dc22 2004014366
New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and their binding materials
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Also available as an ebook
To all the unknown men and women who created
the staple foods and the cuisines of the world: our
greatest and least known benefactors.
With special thanks to my (fortunately less obscure)
mentors, especially:
Paul Buell
Jack Goody
Solomon Katz
Sidney Mintz
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ContEnts
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Everyone Eats 1
Introduction to the Second Edition: 9
One More Round
1. Obligatory Omnivores 13
2. Human Nutritional Needs 46
3. More Needs Than One 75
4. The Senses: Taste, Smell, 85
and the Adapted Mind
5. Basics: Environment and Economy 100
6. Food and Traditional Medicine 119
7. Food as Pleasure 137
8. Food Classification and Communication 154
A  vii  B
Contents
9. Me, Myself, and the Others: 171
Food as Social Marker
10. Food and Religion 188
11. Change 199
12. Foods and Borders: Ethnicities, Cuisines, 225
and Boundary Crossings
13. Feeding the World 250
Appendix: Explaining It All: Nutritional 283
Anthropology and Food Scholarship
Notes 293
References 305
Index 345
About the Author 353
A  viii  B
aCknowlEdgmEnts
This is the place to acknowledge some of the people who have helped me
understand food over the years and thus perhaps help a small amount in
saving them from the general obscurity of those who have fed the world. I
wish I could extend this list indefinitely; I would like to include everyone
who has ever cooked for me or grown food that I ate. My mother and my
father’s mother were the first of these; they taught me the joys of eating. I
thank my wife Barbara, my children, and all my family. But, to keep things
manageable, let me restrict the rest of this list to my friends and advisors
among the serious scholars of foodways. In addition to those singled out
in my dedication, I am grateful especially to Ken Albala; Marja Anderson;
Myra Appell; Marilyn Beaudry-Corbett; Alan Davidson; Alan Fix; Rachel
Laudan; Françoise Sabban; Ellen Messer; Charles Perry; Nevin, Mary, and
Susan Scrimshaw; Penny van Esterik; and Christine Wilson. Special thanks
to Sid Mintz, who undertook the awful task of reading the entire manu-
script, on which he made perceptive and insightful comments. Anony-
mous reviewers also helped. I apologize to friends and colleagues for not
devoting more attention to their work, but space is limited. Thanks also to
Ilene Kalish and the wonderful editing staff of New York University Press!
A  ix  B