I disagree with this approach because I don't think these circumpolar tribal diets represent the norm for humans in evolutionary time or among recorded hunter-gatherers. Humans originated in Africa, in an equatorial climate, where the environment provided plenty of edible plant products along with wild game.
When we look at observed equatorial hunter-gatherer diets, we find that the people get a significant portion of their energy (calories) from plant foods, particularly roots and tubers.
In the film Journey of Man (PBS, 2003), Dr. Spencer Wells, Ph.D. presents the story of his discovery of the genetic evidence that all modern humans have descended from a group of people who were ancestors of the people of the present-day Ju/wasi (aka !Kung or Bushman) tribe. Given this, the diet of contemporary Ju/wasi can probably give us important insight into ancient human diets.
In The Old Way
(Sarah Crichton Books, 2006), Elizabeth Marshall Thomas describes the life of the Ju/wasi from her first-hand experience living with them. Regarding their diet, Thomas reports:"The meat of big game, large harvests of nuts, and large, delicious windfalls such as palm hearts were profoundly welcomed by all concerned, but months could pass before the people obtained these kinds of foods, foods that required sharing. Most of the time, people ate the berries, roots, and slow game obtained by ordinary, everyday gathering, usually but not necessarily done by women..." (p. 108)
"By far the most important staple foods of the Ju/wasi were roots––the twenty-five kinds of bulbs, rhizomes, corms, and tubers. The other foods were either small, such as berries, or scarce, such as truffles, or seasonal, such as certain fruits or the spinachlike leaves. Roots were the everyday meal, and even in some cases were sources of water...For the Ju/wasi as for the people of the past, roots were excellent nutrition, and best of all, unlike fruits or berries, could be noted in one season and gathered in another, as few other creatures were competing for them." (p. 110)
I want to emphasize that meat played an important role in the Ju/wasi diet. They highly valued meat. How much? I'll let Ms. Thomas speak again:
"Meat united people. A meal of life-giving meat was meant for all. On the day that Short/Kwi came home dragging the heart-shot ostrich that had charged him, the women in the camp stood up and started dancing, just from the joy of seeing the eat and from having a man like Short/Kwi living among them, bringing a bounty of life-giving food to share with his people. My mother wrote: 'Women bring most of the daily food that sustains the life of the people, but the roots and berries of the Nyae Nyae Ju/wasi are apt to be tasteles and harsh and not very satisfying. People crave meat. Furthermore, there is only drudgery in digging roots, picking berries, and trudging back to the encampment with the heavy loads and babies sagging in the pouches of the leather capes; there is no splendid excitement and triumph in returning with vegetables. The return of a hunter from a successful hunt is vastly different. The intense craving for meat, the uncertainty and anxiety that attend the hunt, the deep excitement of the kill, and finally, the eating and the satisfaction engage powerful emotions in the people.'"
The Ju/wasi diet may give us important insight into the ancestral diet of humanity prior to the exodus from Africa about 50,000 years ago. Although I have no doubt it contained plenty of meat and fat, it probably had much more plant food than the Inuit diet. In Africa, our ancestors most likely would have found enough plant foods to make them a significant portion of their diets, just as did the Ju/wasi described by Thomas.
The Old Way
gives the reader a first hand, nearly insider account of hunter-gatherer life. I highly recommend it to students of paleo diet.
No comments:
Post a Comment