The Primal Feast: Food, Sex, Foraging, and Love

This is a fascinating book on foraging for food and sustenance as a basic need for humans & the evolution of food gathering, presentation and dining. Allport writes not only of the biological impetus, but the symbiotic psychological drives and needs fulfulled, as observed across community cultures and in other animal kingdoms. An interesting observation is the history of foraging and divisions of labor in communities to maximize victuals and preparation and, as a corollary, the impact upon individual & community needs and mores.This is a book on my keeper shelf that I read a few years ago and finally reviewing.

Susan Allport combines facts, theory and speculation from many fields of research to present an entirely unique view on the evolution of mankind. I could not put this book down and have since gotten my mate to start reading it as well. It has so much information that it will provide topics for conversation for weeks. I highly recommend this book.

Allport sees herself as a forager, a creature with a drive to look for food. She attributes this drive to her ancestors who spent much of their time searching the forests and savannas for food. From this personal observation, keenly felt, Allport branches out to thoughts about food and eating, from the habits of the deer and squirrels near her home to the proclivities of the chimpanzees of Africa. Primary among her concerns is how these behaviors relate to human food consumption, and how the search for food and what we eat has shaped our social structure and psychology.This is a very interesting read, graceful written and full of intriguing bits of information. Did you know, for example, that virtually all common spices, oregano, thyme, cinnamon, rosemary, etc. have "powerful antibacterial and antifungal effects" (p. 118)? Or that there is a beeswax-eating bird used by the Hadza people of Tanzania that leads them to bee hives? The bird loves beeswax but is unable to open a hive, but is rewarded when people do. This "honey guide" is thought to be human kind's "oldest surviving partner in predation, much older than the dog or the falcon" (p. 148). Or that corn treated with an alkali (tortillas are made with lime) frees the otherwise unavailable essential amino acid tryptophan from the corn so that those who depend heavily upon corn in their diet will not develop pellagra, an often-fatal dietary disease? This is just one example of an eating technique developed through trial and error and happenstance that allows a people to live on an otherwise incomplete diet--a "cuisine" altered only at considerable risk.Allport also goes from observation to speculate on such things as the origins of tool use, the sexual differentiation of hunting and gathering, and the use of food for social and sexual advantage. Generally she follows the well-documented and successful path of evolutionary biology and psychology, noting along the way where earlier ideas have proven wrong or incomplete (Raymond Dart's mistaken belief that Australopithecus was largely a meat-eater (p. 157) is a case in point.) She is insightful and presents her arguments well so that we tend to agree with what she says. Her idea that tool use began with females and then later spread to males, as presented in Chapter Twelve "The Nature of Food," is persuasive. Particularly interesting to me is the material on the nature of omnivores and how food choices dictate physiology and vice versa. For example, primates with their big brains that require large amounts of energy rich foods cannot subsist on leaves and other foods requiring long intestinal tracts and a slow-motion life style. Or, reverse that and observe that creatures that have the ability to find and consume energy rich foods can grow big, energy-demanding brains, while those who eat leaves and other foods that require a lot of digestion can't afford to grow a big brain.Also interesting is the chapter on food and cooking aptly

Susan Allport's fascinating new book impeccably intertwines personal anecdotes with scientific knowledge to create a delightful read.

Susan Allport's Primal Feast elegantly balances science, anthropology and observation to explain how food has shaped both the animal and human world. The range of animals and cultures will fascinate anyone interested the world's rich variations. Allport uses this variety to prove how diet and the gathering of food have shaped the world and humans as they are today. From the origins of agriculture to her own garden, Allport gives the reader much food for thought.