100 Million Years of Food

Book excerpt: There are few areas of modern life that offer as much information and advice, often contradictory, as diet and health: eat a lot of meat, don't eat meat; whole-grains are healthy, whole-grains are a disaster; and on it goes. Biological anthropologist Stephen Le cuts through the confusing mass of information to present the long view of our diet. In 100 Million Years of Food Le takes readers on an historic and geographic tour of how different cuisines have evolved in tandem with their particular environments, as our ancestors took advantage of the resources and food available to them. Like his mentor Jared Diamond, Le uses history and science to present a fascinating and wide-ranging tour of human history as viewed through what and how we eat. Travelling the world to places as far-flung as Vietnam, Kenya, Nova Scotia, and Iowa, Le visits people producing food using traditional methods as well as modern techniques, and looks at how our relationship to food has strayed from centuries of tradition, to mass-produced assembly lines dependent on chemicals that bring with them a host of problems.100 Million Years of Food argues that our ancestral diets and lifestyles are the best first line of defence in protecting our health; the optimal diet is to eat what your ancestors ate. In this clear-cut and compelling book, we learn not only what to eat, but how our diets are the product of millions of years of evolution.