On Tue, 10 Sep 2002, Wally Day wrote:

> > (1) A modern paleodiet should exclude foods that
> > actual
> > paleolithic people did not regularly consume,
> > because humans are
> > not adequately adapted to those foods.
>
> Paleo people also did not 'regularly' eat fruits or
> nuts as they are seasonal items. Which may explain why
> some people are particularly sensitive to those food
> groups. However, they are 'accepted' as paleo foods by
> almost everyone on this list.

That's right.

> How many other foods might fall into the category of
> 'not regularly consummed' paleo foods? Quite a few I
> bet.

Virtually all of them.  After all, if we break the category of
"meats" into specific foods -- pork, chicken, beef, turkey -- we
run into the same question.  Did paleolithic people regularly
consume chicken?  I don't think anyone knows.

If we apply the "naked with a sharp stick" rule, then cheese (at
least, soft curd cheese) passes.  Kill the calf, eat the stomach
contents, period.  No fancy technology needed.  And since the
stomach-fermented milk would be a rich source of fat, it's
implausible that hunters would ignore it.  The premise that dairy
consumption had to wait for domestication of cattle is just
wrong.  But the questions of how much dairy paleolithic people
ate, and how much would be "enough", are currently unanswerable.

Todd Moody
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