Subject: how do we decide food vs. notfood?

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1993 20:28:59 GMT

I'm not sure this question can be answered period much less in the context 
of this group... but I've always wondered if there's any theory to explain 
how cultures decide between food and non food. The easiest example is 
snails where in France they're considered food and here (for the most 
part), they're not. Dogs is another example... I understand there are areas 
of Asia where dogs are considered food and kept as pets at the same time. I 
don't think it's a question necessarily of what's available. I can 
understand some societies living in an area where a major protien need is 
satisfied by eating insects but with many things, the same choices are 
available in two different cultures and in one a given item is considered 
food and other is not food.  Thoughts?

skip

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From: [email-masked] (Peter Brooks)
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1993 20:30:00 GMT

/ hpcc01:rec.food.historic / [email-masked] (Lenore Levine) /  7:39 am  Jun 23, 1993 /
[email-masked] (JOHN BARR (HSLC)) writes:

.>Just briefly, the only place that comes to mind that you might check
.>is a book called Unmentionable Cuisine by Calvin Schwabe
.
.
.There's also a book on the subject by Marvin Harris. I forget
.the name.
.----------

I've seen mention of one of these books (or similar) in the book adverts
from Science News Service.

Pete Brooks