At 18:04 1999-07-16 +1000, Ben wrote:

>I think the real point is that tomatoes are fruit- the seeds are not meant
>to be eaten, but the flesh is.
>
>I propose that phylogenic/ class effects of foods are more important than if
>they're New World or Old World.

I largely agree on this, but there are in fact toxic fruits and berries.
The potatoe fruit for example, wich is very similar to the tomatoe.

I think completely safe paleowise are only food that our ancestors have
_relied_ on for very long times. This includes only food available in
the African savanna and jungle. One may speculate that paleo people
have eaten this or that, wich may be true, but they could have made
mistakes about what is really edible, just as neolithic man has.
But sticking to such a rule for whart is "paleo" food will resrict
us to very few species, and then wi will miss another important
paleo dietary factor: variety. We need to include lots of species
in our food, and most of them not all year round. A little of much.
One problem is to find a large variety enough in the store.
Personally I eat some tomatoes sometimes, hoping that there is not
too much of alien proteins in them.
We hav to weigh in what we miss if we avoid a suspected food. The
loss can be worse. (But we will never know enough to judge,
we have to make good guesses).
But the three bad ones, grains, dairy and beans, I think we should
avoid completely, although Loren Cordain suggests that it is large
amounts that make the difference (apart from celiacs who can have
no gluten at all).

- Hans