The Omnivorous Mind : Our Evolving Relationship with Food / John S. Allen.
2012
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Details
Title
The Omnivorous Mind : Our Evolving Relationship with Food / John S. Allen.
Author
Allen, John S., author.
ISBN
9780674064737
Published
Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2012]
Copyright
©2012
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource (266 p.) : 9 halftones
Other Standard Identifiers
10.4159/harvard.9780674064737 doi
Dewey Decimal Classification
616.8526
Summary
In this gustatory tour of human history, John S. Allen demonstrates that the everyday activity of eating offers deep insights into human beings' biological and cultural heritage. We humans eat a wide array of plants and animals, but unlike other omnivores we eat with our minds as much as our stomachs. This thoughtful relationship with food is part of what makes us a unique species, and makes culinary cultures diverse. Not even our closest primate relatives think about food in the way Homo sapiens does. We are superomnivores whose palates reflect the natural history of our species. Drawing on the work of food historians and chefs, anthropologists and neuroscientists, Allen starts out with the diets of our earliest ancestors, explores cooking's role in our evolving brain, and moves on to the preoccupations of contemporary foodies. The Omnivorous Mind delivers insights into food aversions and cravings, our compulsive need to label foods as good or bad, dietary deviation from "healthy" food pyramids, and cross-cultural attitudes toward eating (with the French, bien sûr, exemplifying the pursuit of gastronomic pleasure).To explain, for example, the worldwide popularity of crispy foods, Allen considers first the food habits of our insect-eating relatives. He also suggests that the sound of crunch may stave off dietary boredom by adding variety to sensory experience. Or perhaps fried foods, which we think of as bad for us, interject a frisson of illicit pleasure. When it comes to eating, Allen shows, there's no one way to account for taste.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics
text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Aug 2021)
In
E-BOOK GESAMTPAKET / COMPLETE PACKAGE 2012
E-BOOK PACKAGE BIOLOGY, CHEMISTRY, GEOSCIENCES 2012
E-BOOK PAKET BIOLOGIE, CHEMIE, GEOWISS. 2012
HUP eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013 (Canada)
Harvard University Press eBook Package Backlist 2000-2013
E-BOOK PACKAGE BIOLOGY, CHEMISTRY, GEOSCIENCES 2012
E-BOOK PAKET BIOLOGIE, CHEMIE, GEOWISS. 2012
HUP eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013 (Canada)
Harvard University Press eBook Package Backlist 2000-2013
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Table of Contents
Frontmatter
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
1. CRISPY
2. THE TWO-LEGGED, LARGE-BRAINED, SMALL-FACED, SUPEROMNIVOROUS APE
3. FOOD AND THE SENSUOUS BRAIN
4. EATING MORE, EATING LESS
5. MEMORIES OF FOOD AND EATING
6. CATEGORIES: GOOD FOOD, BAD FOOD, YES FOOD, NO FOOD
7. FOOD AND THE CREATIVE JOURNEY
8. THEORY OF MIND, THEORY OF FOOD?
NOTES
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INDEX
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
1. CRISPY
2. THE TWO-LEGGED, LARGE-BRAINED, SMALL-FACED, SUPEROMNIVOROUS APE
3. FOOD AND THE SENSUOUS BRAIN
4. EATING MORE, EATING LESS
5. MEMORIES OF FOOD AND EATING
6. CATEGORIES: GOOD FOOD, BAD FOOD, YES FOOD, NO FOOD
7. FOOD AND THE CREATIVE JOURNEY
8. THEORY OF MIND, THEORY OF FOOD?
NOTES
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INDEX