On Sat, 21 Apr 2001, Charles Alban wrote:

> << If it is avoidance of foods that were only recently
>  > introduced into the human food supply, then peanuts, tomatoes,
>  > and all other New World foods are out. >>
>
> This is very eurocentric! Presumably the native peoples of the americas have
> been eating such things, albeit in their original form, for millennia, and
> have suffered no ill effects as a result. Look at the Tarahumara indians of
> Mexico, for example. They live extremely fit and healthy lives on "new world
> foods".

I'm just giving the argument.  The current view is that human
beings have been in the americas for about 15,000 years.  Yes,
that's "millennia" but not much longer than people have been
eating agricultural foods.  If you're going to allow that 15,000
years is enough time for adaptation to foods, then the entire
case against eating neolithic/agricultural foods collapses, since
agriculture is about 12,000 years old.

Conversely, one could argue that if the Tarahumara and others can
be extremely fit and healthy eating foods that humans have only
had access to for 15,000 years or less, the argument collapses
anyway.

Todd Moody
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