Cultural patterning of nutritionally relevant behavior
Mead, M.
Journal of the American Dietetic Association 25(8): 677-680
1949
ISSN/ISBN: 0002-8223 PMID: 18134232 Document Number: 519424
An anthropologist's view of nutrition and food habits is that people who have survived have had nutritionally viable patterns of eating as a nation or as a tribe. Among the great advances in human history were establishment of relatively regular times for eating so as to free people for other activities, and division of the labor of preparing food so that one person could prepare meals for others. At the present time pretty rigid patterns of menus must be taught to those without sufficient knowledge of foods to enable these persons to secure all essential nutrients. With more knowledge much more flexibility is possible. Self-demand feeding of infants in the hands of intelligent persons allows the child to establish a relationship between himself and his food which is at once personal and adequate.