100 Million Years of Food

Author: Stephen Le
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1250050413
Category : Cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Book Description
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.

100 Million Years of Food

Author: Stephen Le
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1250050421
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 329

Book Description
A fascinating tour through the evolution of the human diet and how we can improve our health by understanding our complicated history with food. There are few areas of modern life that are burdened by as much information and advice, often contradictory, as our diet and health: eat a lot of meat, eat no meat; whole grains are healthy, whole grains are a disaster; eat everything in moderation; eat only certain foods--and on and on. In 100 Million Years of Food, biological anthropologist Stephen Le explains how cuisines of different cultures are a result of centuries of evolution, finely tuned to our biology and surroundings. Today many cultures have strayed from their ancestral diets, relying instead on mass-produced food often made with chemicals that may be contributing to a rise in so-called Western diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, and obesity.

A Hundred Million Years and a Day

Author: Jean-Baptiste Andrea
Publisher: Gallic Books
ISBN: 1910477915
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 119

Book Description
Described as 'unforgettable' by The Mail on Sunday, A Hundred Million Years and a Day is a pocket-sized epic adventure story of a professor's journey to an Alpine glacier. ‘Powerful’ Sunday Times When he hears a story about a huge dinosaur fossil locked deep inside an Alpine glacier, university professor Stan finds a childhood dream reignited. Whatever it takes, he is determined to find the buried treasure. But Stan is no mountaineer and must rely on the help of old friend Umberto, who brings his eccentric young assistant, Peter, and cautious mountain guide Gio. Time is short: they must complete their expedition before winter sets in. As bonds are forged and tested on the mountainside, and the lines between determination and folly are blurred, the hazardous quest for the Earth’s lost creatures becomes a journey into Stan’s own past. This breathless, heartbreaking epic-in-miniature speaks to the adventurer within us all.

Catching Fire

Author: Richard Wrangham
Publisher: Profile Books
ISBN: 1847652107
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 318

Book Description
In this stunningly original book, Richard Wrangham argues that it was cooking that caused the extraordinary transformation of our ancestors from apelike beings to Homo erectus. At the heart of Catching Fire lies an explosive new idea: the habit of eating cooked rather than raw food permitted the digestive tract to shrink and the human brain to grow, helped structure human society, and created the male-female division of labour. As our ancestors adapted to using fire, humans emerged as "the cooking apes". Covering everything from food-labelling and overweight pets to raw-food faddists, Catching Fire offers a startlingly original argument about how we came to be the social, intelligent, and sexual species we are today. "This notion is surprising, fresh and, in the hands of Richard Wrangham, utterly persuasive ... Big, new ideas do not come along often in evolution these days, but this is one." -Matt Ridley, author of Genome

A Million Years in a Day

Author: Greg Jenner
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 125008945X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 369

Book Description
Who invented beds? When did we start cleaning our teeth? How old are wine and beer? Which came first: the toilet seat or toilet paper? What was the first clock? Every day, from the moment our alarm clock wakes us in the morning until our head hits our pillow at night, we all take part in rituals that are millennia old. Structured around one ordinary day, A Million Years in a Day reveals the astonishing origins and development of the daily practices we take for granted. In this gloriously entertaining romp through human history, Greg Jenner explores the gradual—and often unexpected—evolution of our daily routines. This is not a story of wars, politics, or great events. Instead, Jenner has scoured Roman rubbish bins, Egyptian tombs, and Victorian sewers to bring us the most intriguing, surprising, and sometimes downright silly historical nuggets from our past. Drawn from across the world, spanning a million years of humanity, this book is a smorgasbord of historical delights. It is a history of all those things you always wondered about—and many you have never considered. It is the story of your life, one million years in the making.

Eat Your Woolly Mammoths!

Author: James Solheim
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
ISBN: 9780062397058
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 56

Book Description

The End of Food

Author: Paul Roberts
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780618606238
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 428

Book Description
The bestselling author of "The End of Oil" turns his attention to food and finds that the system entrusted with meeting one of the most basic needs is dramatically failing us. With his trademark comprehensive global approach, Roberts investigates the startling truth about the modern food system.

The Last Two Million Years

Author:
Publisher: Reader's Digest Association
ISBN: 9780895770189
Category : Civilization
Languages : en
Pages : 492

Book Description
A four-part survey of the human adventure.

The DNA Restart

Author: Sharon Moalem
Publisher: Rodale Books
ISBN: 1623366690
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 253

Book Description
A practical guide to tailoring your diet to your genes, based on groundbreaking research on genetics, nutrition, and longevity—featuring at-home exercises like TikTok’s viral saltine cracker test! “Packed with fascinating information about the links between genes, food, and health.”—Stephen Le, PhD, author of 100 Million Years of Food Take a bite of a cracker. As you chew, notice how long it takes for the taste to change from salty to sweet. The faster the taste changes, the more adept your body is at breaking down carbs. This saltine cracker test highlights that everyone has unique variations in our genetics—and with The DNA Restart, you’re given a step-by-step guide to tailoring a diet and lifestyle to your specific needs. Physician, neurogeneticist, and New York Times bestselling author Dr. Sharon Moalem has spent the last two decades researching and formulating how to eat and live in line with your own genetic code using five foundational pillars: • Eat for Your Genes: Simple, scientifically based self-tests and exercises will get you eating the right amounts of carbs, fats, and proteins for your unique genes. • Reverse Aging: Turn back the hands of your genetically based, biological clock using signature dietary and behavioral changes. • Eat Umami: Use the natural taste of umami, or deliciousness contained within food, to trigger long-lasting satiety. • Drink Oolong Tea: Oolong tea is rich in polyphenols and has the power to stop you from absorbing dietary fat naturally. • Slow Living: Continued stress changes our DNA. Dr. Moalem shows you how to more deeply enjoy your food, upgrade your sleep, and use easy visualization exercises to curb unwanted cravings. Delicious recipes with mix-and-match meal plans and inspiring testimonials round out this unique book. The DNA Restart is truly paradigm-shifting and is certain to change how we view our diets, health, and longevity.

Near a Thousand Tables

Author: Felipe Fernandez-Armesto
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0743234154
Category : Cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 524

Book Description
In Near a Thousand Tables, acclaimed food historian Felipe Fernández-Armesto tells the fascinating story of food as cultural as well as culinary history -- a window on the history of mankind. In this "appetizingly provocative" (Los Angeles Times) book, he guides readers through the eight great revolutions in the world history of food: the origins of cooking, which set humankind on a course apart from other species; the ritualization of eating, which brought magic and meaning into people's relationship with what they ate; the inception of herding and the invention of agriculture, perhaps the two greatest revolutions of all; the rise of inequality, which led to the development of haute cuisine; the long-range trade in food which, practically alone, broke down cultural barriers; the ecological exchanges, which revolutionized the global distribution of plants and livestock; and, finally, the industrialization and globalization of mass-produced food. From prehistoric snail "herding" to Roman banquets to Big Macs to genetically modified tomatoes, Near a Thousand Tables is a full-course meal of extraordinary narrative, brilliant insight, and fascinating explorations that will satisfy the hungriest of readers.