Chile
pepper is used
today as a flavoring, but Aztecs also applied it for toothache, sore
throat, and asthma. The tonic properties of coffee have been recorded
in Islamic pharmacopoeia since the eleventh century, and many peoples
have used it to protect against Parkinson’s disease.
Although much has been documented regarding the nutritional values of
foods, until recently little attention has been paid to the
pharmacologic potential of diet.
This book investigates the health implications of foods from the
cuisines of peoples around the world to describe the place of food in
health maintenance. In this wide-ranging book, Nina Etkin reveals the
pharmacologic potential of foods in the specific cultural contexts in
which they are used. Incorporating co-evolution with a biocultural
perspective, she addresses some of the physiological effects of foods
across cultures and through history while taking into account both the
complex dynamics of food choice and the blurred distinctions between
food and medicine. Showing that food choice is more closely linked to
health than is commonly thought, she helps us to understand the health
implications of people’s food-centered actions in the context
of
real-life circumstances.
Drawing on an extensive literature that transects food and culture, the
history of medicine, ethnopharmacology, food history, nutrition, and
human evolution, Edible
Medicines
demonstrates the intricate relationship between culture and nature. It
will appeal to a wide range of scholars and professionals, from
anthropologists to nutritionists, as well as general readers seeking a
greater understanding of the medicinal aspects of food.
|
Edible Medicines
An
Ethnopharmacology of Food
by Nina L. Etkin
University
of Arizona Press, 2008
Order
a copy
|
