On Mon, 12 Jul 1999, Richard Keene wrote:

> Interesting points.  Eating paleo only works in two
> social/technological situations.
> First, an actual hunter-gatherer existence,
> and second, a 'modern' society with refrigeration,
> semi-trucks, and supermarkets.

That's correct, but the storage and distribution technologies
also allow us to cobble together "paleo" diets that do not
resemble the diets of any prehistoric population that ever lived.

> Much like the whole argument about drinking
> alcohol, and particularly wine.  For most of the
> history of the world wine has been better for you to
> drink than water.  Wine just made you drunk, the water
> in most cities could out-right kill you.

This reminds me that it was standard practice to carry beer
instead of drinking water on long ocean voyages, because the
drinking water would spoil, while the alcohol and hops kept the
beer potable.  The heavily hopped India Pale Ales were developed
precisely to last during the long shipment to India from Britain,
for example.

Todd Moody
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