100 Million Years of Food

An exploration of what we eat and how we live and the health consequences of denying our complicated evolutionary history with food. 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. Like his mentor Jared Diamond he 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 defense 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.