Summary Of Good To Eat By Marvin Harris

Introduction:
“Good to Eat: Riddles of Food and Culture” is the title of the book which was written by Marvin Harris in 1985. “Small Things” is a chapter of this book in which the author Marvin Harris has described the facts about cultural norms and use of insects as a source of food in different cultures. He clearly describes why people eat insects in some cultures and why some cultures especially western are against eating insects as food. According to Harris people eat the things as a food which are commonly available in their environment so that is why American and European do not eat the insects because insects are less in their living environment. “The reason we don't eat them is not that they are dirty and loathsome; rather, they are dirty and loathsome because we don't eat them (Harris, p-154). He further says that anything which we do not eat is considered as dirty and that is why Europeans and American considered the insects …show more content…
They are pariah species. The standard claim that insects are dirty and disgusting makes no more sense than the standard claim of Jews and Moslems that pigs are dirty and disgusting” (Harris, p-173). In this statement, the Harris has explain that religious believes also contributes towards the eating or not eating of insects as food. From this statement, I have learned that religions play an important role towards the development of our cultural norms such as Muslims and Jews do not eat pig meat because as per their religions, pigs are dirty and disgusting. But the Christians and other religious communities eat the pig meat because their religion does not prohibit them from eating pigs. I have learned that some people eat the insects because their religion gives them permission to do so and some people do not eat the insects because their culture under the shadow of their religion does not give them the permission to eat insects and such