I was talking with my friend's mom about paleo diet theory, which i
think was rather new to her-- the idea that grains are recent in human
diet, anyway.

i was talking about how paleo people ate meat and fat for survival.
she is kind of a 60s era feminist and she quite haughtily informed me
that women supplied the vast majority of food for the tribes by
gathering plants.

i didn't know that this was such a common feminist assumption, that
"women's work" of gathering plants was just as important as "men's
work" of hunting animals.  My thoughts were that it isn't based in
real experience-- I mean, how many of these theorists actually tried
foregoing bread, grains and beans and living on plant food alone?  It
also seemed a bit tied with the whole fad of low-fat vegetarianism
that is everywhere these days-- not eating red meat and such.

Anyway, I just wanted to share this anecdote.  Who's to say that just
men hunted?  Who's to say that just women gathered?  Who's to say that
paleo people didn't scavenge prey that was already killed by another
animal?  Thinking like a hunter-gatherer (and a feminist), it doesn't
bother me in the least if it is true that men were the ones who
provided most of the food that my tribe ate.  because i know there was
a lot of work to be done by all to provide for everyone.

running fully on animal fat and the odd coconut,

Jana