On Sun, 26 Nov 2000, Todd Moody wrote:

> Here's an interesting web site dealing with the dietary patterns
> of the Inuit:
>
> http://www.as.ua.edu/ant/bindon/ant570/Papers/Boschma.htm
>

A good site.

The small amount of vitamin C in meat is sufficient to sustain the Inuit
provided the meat is consumed raw. An apparently minor detail in the
preparation of the food is the difference between a practical diet and a
non-sustainable one. I wonder how many of us are a hairs breadth away from
success with our diets, but for some minor detail ?

The inuit were not perfectly healthy, suffering from skeletal problems related
to high meat/low calcium consumption. Heavy meat eaters should take note.

The Inuit are now suffering from western diseases, having adopted a more
western diet. This raises an awkward question for paleodiet apologists. If the
Inuit had access to high quality natural food sources, why have they embraced
western food so readily ? So much for intuitive eating.

Finally, the Copper Eskimos had a taboo prohibiting the consumption of vegetable
matter ! Something to taunt our vegetarian friends with :)
Incidently, vegetarian is an Inuit word meaning "poor hunter"

Andy.