I have skimmed Schwabe s book but not read it From what I ve seen it is not a serious study of food taboos it is a fun book encouraging people to try different things It s clear that there are a lot of people in the US who won t eat brains or even liver and that there are a lot of people who don t eat any meats other than beef pork and chicken not even lamb or veal let alone rabbit or squab All this makes an interesting cultural study no doubt But I think there s a difference between being conservative in one s food habits eating only familiar foods and considering something taboo which implies a more categorical classification Some of these same people would not eat Greek or Indian food simply because it is unfamiliar or spicy Can we say then that there s a taboo against Greek or Indian food