Contents: Preface. 1. Food and nutrition in culture: the conceptual framework. 2. Dynamics of food ideology in tribal thought and culture. 3. Food and nutrition: cultural patterns of cereal foods interaction. 4. Flesh foods: the changing primordial food ideology. 5. Some aspects of ethnicity and food avoidance. 6. Class view of diet, disease and health. 7. The tribal food and the need for national policy on food. Bibliography. Index.

    "The Anthropology of Food and Nutrition is essentially an analysis of food in culture. Surely food is a bio-chemical process and product which sustains life, but it is not merely the source of bio-chemical needs. It has an aesthetic cultural dimension which helps a person determine his food and nutrition habits and choices.

    The present work deals with the food, food habits and nutrition of the tribals with the theoretical perspective of social anthropology, culture, and ethnicity. It is argued at length that the food ideology among the tribals--from flesh food to cereal food--is defined by their history, tradition and culture.

    The author presents a case study of the tribals of Rajasthan within the framework of food in culture. This leads him to discuss various aspects of tribal food habits--food preparation, food preferences, hot and cold food and ceremonial food. He attempts to develop a theory of tribal stratification on the basis of food habits as indicators. He also brings within his focus the need for an adequate national food policy." (jacket)

    [S.L. Doshi also wrote Tribal Ethnicity, Class and Integration and Bhils : Between Societal Self Awareness and Cultural Synthesis.] 

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