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Updated January 10, 2002
Sadly, I have to report that anthropologist Marvin Harris died
on October 25, 2001.
His was not a household name, but he was one of the major figures
in the study of food and culture in the 20th Century. He
was one of the first anthropologists to take Lactose Intolerance
seriously as a topic of study.
His book, Good to Eat: Riddles of Food and Culture (also
published under the title of The Sacred Cow and the Abominable Pig)
contained a detailed discussion of why so few people in China and India
ever became LI and why so many northern Europeans did. I drew heavily on this
analysis for my book, Milk Is Not for Every Body. Nobody ever
talked about this more clearly.
This
Tribute Site has more to say on Dr. Harris' life and career, including
a full bibliography of books and articles. His work is beautifully summed
up in this section:
Cultural Materialism is one of the most important ideas developed
in the 20th Century, although its importance will not be recognized
until the 21st. Its fundamental premise - that all human culture is
shaped most significantly by the environment in which humans live -
is so elegant, so parsimonious, and so superior to competing paradigms
that it is frankly amazing that cultural materialism is not more
widely accepted.
I've put links below to Amazon for some of Dr. Harris' books that are
still in print -- many of them, fortunately. Just click on
the book jacket. Please seek them out. They make wonderful,
fascinating reading.
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