num_pages: 320
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 One Hundred 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.Travelling around the world to places as far-flung as Vietnam Kenya India and the US Stephen Le introduces us to people who are growing cooking and eating food using both traditional and modern methods striving for a sustainable healthy diet. In clear compelling arguments based on scientific research Le contends that our ancestral diets provide the best first line of defense in protecting our health and providing a balanced diet. Fast-food diets as well as strict regimens like paleo or vegan in effect highjack our biology and ignore the complex nature of our bodies. In One Hundred Million Years of Food Le takes us on a guided tour of evolution demonstrating how our diets are the result of millions of years of history and how we can return to a sustainable healthier way of eating.
language: English
title: 100 Million Years of Food: What Our Ancestors Ate and Why It Matters Today
publisher: Picador