{"product_id":"the-omnivorous-mind-our-evolving-relationship-with-food-9780674055728","title":"The Omnivorous Mind: Our Evolving Relationship with Food","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn this gustatory tour of human history  John S. Allen demonstrates that the everyday activity of eating offers deep insights into human beings biological and cultural heritage.  We humans eat a wide array of plants and animals  but unlike other omnivores we eat with our minds as much as our stomachs. This thoughtful relationship with food is part of what makes us a unique species  and makes culinary cultures diverse. Not even our closest primate relatives think about food in the way Homo sapiens does. We are superomnivores whose palates reflect the natural history of our species.  Drawing on the work of food historians and chefs  anthropologists and neuroscientists  Allen starts out with the diets of our earliest ancestors  explores cookings role in our evolving brain  and moves on to the preoccupations of contemporary foodies. The Omnivorous Mind delivers insights into food aversions and cravings  our compulsive need to label foods as good or bad  dietary deviation from healthy food pyramids  and cross-cultural attitudes toward eating (with the French  bien sr  exemplifying the pursuit of gastronomic pleasure).  To explain  for example  the worldwide popularity of crispy foods  Allen considers first the food habits of our insect-eating relatives. He also suggests that the sound of crunch may stave off dietary boredom by adding variety to sensory experience. Or perhaps fried foods  which we think of as bad for us  interject a frisson of illicit pleasure. When it comes to eating  Allen shows  theres no one way to account for taste.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45646805368885,"sku":"ByrdShop_0674055721","price":31.71,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780674055728.jpg?v=1781678673","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-omnivorous-mind-our-evolving-relationship-with-food-9780674055728","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}