Table Of ContentThe Quest for Food
Harald Brüssow
The Quest for Food
A Natural History of Eating
Dr.HaraldBrüssow
ChemindelaChaumény13
CH-1814LaTourdePeilz
Switzerland
e-mail:[email protected]
[email protected]
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2006932833
ISBN-10:0-387-30334-0 e-ISBN-10:0-387-45461-6
ISBN-13:978-0387-30334-5 e-ISBN-13:978-0-387-45461-0
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9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
springer.com
To my mother Lydia, who gave me her curiosity for knowledge,
To my father Ernst, who added his interest for books,
To my wife Margret and my daughter Friederike, who shared
my fascination for biology.
“ThewheelofLife”bronzefromK.Franke(artpieceinthepossessionoftheauthor)
Preface
Whenyougointoascientificlibraryorlookthroughthecataloguesofscientific
publishers,youwillquicklyfindbooksfromfoodscientists,foodtechnologists,
foodchemists,foodmicrobiologists,andfoodtoxicologists.Agronomists,nutri-
tionists,andphysicianshavewrittenonfood,andlastbutnotleastcooks.What
I missed was a book on food written from the perspective of a biologist. When
Susan Safren, the food science editor from Springer Science+Business Media,
LLC,invitedmetowriteabook,IdecidedthatIwouldwritethisbookonfood
biology.
What I had in mind was a survey on eating through space and time in a very
fundamental way, but not in the format of a systematic textbook. The present
book is more of an ordered collection of scientific essays.
Contents. In Chapter 1, I start with a prehistoric Venus to explore the
relationshipbetweensexandfood.ThenIuseanotherlady—Europe—toinves-
tigate the strong links between food and culture. I then ask what is eating in
a very basic but simple physicochemical sense. In Chapters 2 and 3, I embark
onabiochemistry-orientedtravelfollowingthepathofafoodmoleculethrough
the central carbon pathway until it is decomposed into CO and H O and a lot
2 2
of ATP. My account does not intend to teach biochemistry, but to use recent
researcharticlesfrommajorscientificjournalstolookbehindfoodbiochemistry.
InChapter4,weexploretheevolutionofeatingsystemsovertimestartingwith
the primordial soup, going into the RNA world, and then into the fascinating
eating world of cells. I follow here the historical time line and you should not
betoosurprisedthatmostofthesechaptersisdedicatedtotheprokaryoticcells
anditsnutritionalbiochemistry.Don’tblamemeforamicrobiologicalbias.For
the larger part of the biological evolution on Earth, the living world was repre-
sented mostly, if not exclusively, by microbes. In Chapter 5, I give “higher”
organisms their full rights. I selected animal-oriented research papers under an
ecology perspective. The actors come first from the ocean, then its borders. To
uniteplantsandanimalsandtoputland-basedbiologyoncenterstage,Ichoose
herbivory as a read thread for the second part of this chapter.
In Chapter 6, we investigate food stories from a behavioral viewpoint, first
withanimalsandthenwithhumans,whereourmarchthroughtimereachesfrom
vii
viii Preface
animals to early hominids into human history, even politics. If we would end
here, we would miss a major point, namely that human eating stories cannot
be seen in isolation. To dismantle again our anthropocentric view of the world,
Chapter 7 will show us as food for many predators. Microbes as the invisible
rulers of the world make again their strong appearance on the scene. I end
my chapter with an outlook on a few selected chapters from agronomy and
the problems to feed a growing world population with the help of science and
technology. It is also a story about pessimism and optimism in life.
Scope. I am deliberately speaking of eating systems because my definition
of eating is very inclusive. It also covers gases (CO (cid:2)O (cid:2)H , and CH take
2 2 2 4
centralplacesintheargumentsofthisbook),electrons,andprotons.Prokaryotic
systems, “eating” very strange compounds and using exotic energy sources, are
prominentlytreated.Youwillseeanotheraspectinthisbookonfood:Thearena
where the story is unfolding is planet Earth. Several of the chapters stress the
link between the biosphere and the atmosphere and touch questions of climate
change.
WritingStyleandReadership.Thereaderwillfindtwotypesofchapters.One
typetellsalinearstoryinaneasyessaystyle.Thesechaptersshouldbeaccessible
toanysciencestudent,perhapsevenaneducatedlaymanorlaywoman.Theother
typeorganizesastoryaroundrecentresearcharticlesinmajorscientificjournals.
Here you might get the impression of a somewhat heterogeneous patchwork
when I try to integrate a couple of research papers into a story. As the level of
arguments in research journals is frequently very complex, the second type of
chapters is more difficult to read. I tried to work out the essence of the papers
without simplifying them too much. These parts are better suited to advanced
students.
When it comes to the technique of writing, I tried to animate the flow of
arguments with historical remarks, anecdotes, or personal reflections, which are
not conventional parts of a scientific textbook, but are essential for a scientific
essay since they are necessary to provoke thought. To avoid false scientific
claims for my personal opinions, these passages are printed in italics. As these
passagesofteninterrupttheflowofthemainarguments,Ihavechosenfrequent
subheadings to structure a chapter.
Reading Recommendation. Some chapters on bioenergetics, photosynthesis,
and bacterial metabolism in Chapters 2 and 3 require some background
knowledge. If you need a recall of your biochemistry knowledge, you will
find the required backup information with a mouse click on the virtual
bookshelf of the National Center for Biotechnological Information. Please go
to www.ncbi.nih.gov/ and on the opening page you find on the first row of the
header “Books.” Clicking on it, you can search numerous science books or you
can choose a specific one. Personally I recommend Biochemistry by Berg or
MolecularBiologyoftheCellbyAlbertswhenyouneedbackupsforthepresent
book. If you need help for more classical subjects of biology, you will find a
first orientation on the Internet with Wikipedia. Useful web sites are provided
attheendofthebookafterthereferencesection.Thesecondpartofthebookis
Preface ix
easier to follow and may in part even please a larger public. Even when I have
written the book as a logical flow of arguments, I do not think that it must be
read in a linear fashion. In fact I strongly encourage you to selective reading.
I was also a selective author. Start with the chapter where the heading arouses
your interest.
Illustrations.Mostfiguresinthisbookgobacktoillustrationsfromlandmark
science publications from the late nineteenth century Germany. I used them
for several reasons. One is esthetical—I like these old figures because they are
so artful and I owe my thanks to the Brockhaus Verlag, who allowed me to
present these figures from the “Brehm” and the “Kerner,” multivolume treatise
of zoology and botany, respectively, and “Meyers Konservationslexikon” to
an international readership. The “Brehm” illustrations were not only used by
Charles Darwin in his book The Descent of Man, but became a standard in
the educated German-speaking household. Where the Brehm fails in the world
of the microbes, my colleagues from our microscopy group (M. L. Dillmann,
M. Rouvet) helped me with modern pictures. Apart from this historical aspect,
the old figures were also meant as a contrast to the quoted research papers,
which were mostly published over the last few years to provide a topical
review. However, this mania for actuality neglects the fact that science also
relies on tradition of knowledge. We can lose insight when we are not looking
back. The idea for illustrating the Dramatis Personae, the actors of the play of
life, came from a reviewer (Ted Farmer, Uni Lausanne), who suggested that
classicalzoologyandbotanymightnotbethatpresentinthemoderngeneration
of molecularly trained biologists. The figures are also meant as moments of
relaxation and fun when reading through a sometimes demanding text. I hope
that you will enjoy this survey of eating through space and time. Personally I
learned a lot when writing this book.
6 June, 2006 Harald Brüssow
Acknowledgments
Ihavetothankmanypeoplewhohelpedmetowritethisbook.Firstandforemost
my wife Margret—without her support at home, her helpful comments in the
earlywritingphase,andherwillingnesstoforgoherhusbandformanyevenings
andweekends,thebookcouldneverhavebeenwritten.Forcriticalcommentson
theearlychaptersandhelpwiththereferences,Ithankmyyearlongcollaborator
AnneBruttin.Isentoutchaptersofthebookmanuscripttoanumberofscientists
at different institutions for critical reading. I was overwhelmed by the time
investmentanddedicationofthesebusyscientists.Ireceivedindepthcomments
forlargerpassagesofthebookfromUweSauer(ETHZurich),JanRoelofvander
Meer(UniLausanne),EdwardFarmer(UniLausanne),andMichelGoldschmidt-
Clermont (Uni Geneva). For smaller sections of the book, I received helpful
comments from Martin Loessner (ETH Zurich), Barbara Stecher (ETH Zurich),
OttoHagenbüchle(ISRECEpalinges),andLaurentKeller(UniLausanne).Ialso
have to thank my colleagues Nicolas Page, Marcel Juillerat, Heribert Watzke,
and Bruce German, all working at the Nestlé Research Center in Lausanne, for
discussion and helpful comments. When I lacked Swiss colleagues for critical
reading,Isentseveralpassagesofthebooktoforeignscientists.HereIowemy
thanks for their critical reading to Stephan Beck (Sanger Center Cambridge),
Roger Glass (CDC Atlanta), Todd Klaenhammer (UNC Raleigh), and Robert
Haselkorn (Uni Chicago).
As the book deals with many subdisciplines of biology, I had to rely on the
expert knowledge of textbook authors. I want to quote here my main sources
of insight, and I will directly recommend these books for the interested reader
who wants to know more about the subject. In zoology this was R. Brusca’s
Invertebrates (Sinauer 2002); in plant biology B. Buchanan’s Biochemistry
& Molecular Biology of Plants (Am. Soc. Plant Physiol. 2000); in Microbi-
ologyJ.Lengeler’sBiologyoftheProkaryotes(Thieme1999)andL.Prescott’s
Microbiology (McGraw Hill 2002); in biochemistry D. Nelson’s Principles of
Biochemistry (Freeman 2005) and L. Stryer’s Biochemistry (Freeman 1995); in
geneticsM.Jobling’sHumanEvolutionaryGenetics(Garland2004);inevolution
M. Ridley’s Evolution (Blackwell 2004), S. Gould’s The Book of Life (Norton
2001),andS.Jones’HumanEvolution(Cambridge1992);inecologyM.Begon’s
xi
xii Acknowledgments
Ecology (Blackwell 1996); and in ethology C. Barnard’s Animal Behaviour
(Pearson 2004). The legends of the old figures and the species names were
checked with the Encyclopedia Britannica for actuality.
Thevastmajorityofthefigurescomefromthreepublicationsthatappearedin
the late 19th and early 20th century in Germany, namely 1) Brehms Tierleben-
Allgemeine Kunde des Tierreiches in 13 Ba¨nden. Vierte Auflage, Herausgeber:
Otto zur Strassen. Bibliographisches Institut Leipzig und Wien 1911–1918,
2) Pflanzenleben von A. Kerner von Marilaun, in drei Ba¨nden, dritte Auflage,
neubearbeitet von A. Hansen, Bibliographisches Institut Leipzig und Wien
1913, 3) Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, ein Nachschlagwerk des allgemeinen
Wissens, fu¨nfte Auflage, in 17 Ba¨nden, Bibliographisches Institut Leipzig und
Wien 1894–1897, in the given order with respect to numbers. I thank the
Brockhaus Verlag for permission to reproduce these figures.
Five line drawings around photosynthesis come from J. Lengeler’s “Biology
oftheProkaryotes”.IthanktheThiemeVerlagforpermissiontoreproducethem.
The electron microscopy pictures come from our microscopy group at the
Nestlé Research Center, some of them were published and I owe my thanks
to the journals (Journal of Bacteriology, Microbiology and Molecular Biology
Reviews from ASM and Current Opinion in Microbiology from Elsevier) for
reproducingthemhereagain.ThelinedrawingoftheWillendorfVenusisfrom
my son Felix Bru¨ssow.
Finally,Ihavebeenworkingforaquartercenturyintheresearchdepartment
of a major food industry (Nestlé in Switzerland). However, the book was
written in my free time, and I express here my personal ideas and no company
opinions. I cannot and I do not want to claim the authority of a company for
my personal views. This means that the responsibility for the factual mistakes
and misunderstandings and perhaps sometimes controversial interpretations is
entirely mine.
6 June, 2006, La Tour de Peilz, Switzerland Harald Brüssow
