100 Million Years of Food: What Our Ancestors Ate and Why It Matters Today by Stephen Le

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. Editorial Reviews This deliciously entertaining book will help you to enjoy eating your food, to enjoy thinking about your food, and to stay healthy. -Jared Diamond, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the New York Times bestselling author of Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse The vastness, breadth, and ambitiousness of Stephen Le's 100 Million Years of Food makes it compelling and engaging.-Mark Kurlansky, author of Salt and Cod Le mixes advice, personal anecdotes, and medical science in this fascinating food-for-thought narrative.-Booklist In this accessible debut, Le offers a nimble hybrid that is equal parts travel memoir and informed speculation about the biology of human nutrition. The author, with roots in Vietnam and Canada, also explores how different cultures approach food in support of his thesis that straying from one's ancestral diets is a leading cause of modern disease. It's a surprisingly clear-eyed approach....The book's conclusions about what to eat and drink are common sense, but the journey Le takes to get us there is worth the cover price.-Kirkus Reviews - From the Publisher This deliciously entertaining book will help you to enjoy eating your food, to enjoy thinking about your food, and to stay healthy. - Jared Diamond Le mixes advice, personal anecdotes, and medical science in this fascinating food-for-thought narrative. - Booklist The vastness, breadth, and ambitiousness of Stephen Le's 100 Million Years of Food makes it compelling and engaging. - Mark Kurlansky Entertaining and assiduously referenced. . . . What you don't understand about food and diet could fill a book. Biological anthropologist Stephen Le did just that, and what he has to say will almost certainly throw into question everything you think you know about healthy eating. - Vancouver Sun [100 Million Years of Food] could constitute a paradigm shift regarding how we view food. - The Globe and Mail A fascinating journey that comes to a few salient conclusions: primarily that we'd all be a lot better off if we ate like our great-great-great grandparents. - National Post Le mixes advice, personal anecdotes, and medical science in this fascinating food-for-thought narrative. - Booklist 12/01/2015 Le (biology, Univ. of Ottawa) believes that adverse health conditions have arisen from changes that have made our food unlike what our ancestors ate. He uses an evolutionary biology perspective to chart alterations in dietary practices from primitive times to the present day in an attempt to understand the best type of diet for us to follow. Le begins by investigating specific categories of food, such as insects, fruit, meat, fish, plants, alcohol, and milk. He also postulates on the causes of nutritional deficiencies and the prevalence of food allergies in modern times. Summations of scientific articles are used as evidence throughout, although detailed analysis is lacking. The account is interspersed with anecdotes from Le's travels, in which he meets entrepreneurs and foodies who are passionate about traditional food and sustainability. The book ends with the author's recommendations for eating well, which include consuming the traditional foods one's ancestors enjoyed, sustainable eating, moderate exercise, safe germ and sun exposure, and cooking at low heat. VERDICT An intriguing viewpoint on how dietary practices have changed over time, but further research is needed to support some of Le's healthy living recommendations--Rebekah Kati, Durham, NC - Library Journal 2015-11-01 A biology professor traverses the globe to explore the evolution of food. In this accessible debut, Le offers a nimble hybrid that is equal parts travel memoir and informed speculation about the biology of human nutrition. The author, with roots in Vietnam and Canada, also explores how different cultures approach food in support of his thesis that straying from one's ancestral diets is a leading cause of modern disease. It's a surprisingly cleareyed approach that demonstrates Le's awareness of trendy diets like the paleo approach while also allowing him to dig into the science behind the effects that eating has on our lives. Starting off in Vietnam to explore the now-exotic inclusion of insects in one's diet, the author traveled the world to explore the history of meat, fish, fruits, and starches in far-flung locales. It's not always pretty--the chapter A Truce Among Thieves delves uncomfortably into the weird world of parasites and the drawbacks of modern hygiene on our digestive and immune systems. In an interesting diversion for what is nominally a scientific inquiry, Le doesn't confine what he learns to a restrictive definition for health, as he notes in his chapter on meat. In other words, the robustness of meat-eaters and the long lives of meat-abstainers are two sides of the same biological coin, he writes. It all depends on how you define healthy. Does healthy mean being in a great mood and being fertile and stronger at a younger age, or does healthy mean delaying cancer for a couple of years and hanging out with your great-grandchildren? This line of inquiry continues in the book's penultimate chapter, The Future of Food, in which Le chronicles his discussions with proponents of different diets and lifestyles, none of whom can agree on a best approach. The book's conclusions about what to eat and drink are common sense, but the journey Le takes to get us there is worth the cover price. - Kirkus Reviews