A Fascinating Tour Through the Evolution of the Human Diet and How We Can Improve Our Health by Understanding Our Complicated History with Food
There are few areas of modern life that are burdened by as much information and advice, often contradictory, as our diet and health: eat a lot of meat, eat no meat; whole grains are healthy, whole grains are a disaster; eat everything in moderation; eat only certain foods---and on and on. In 100 Million Years of Food, biological anthropologist Stephen Le explains how cuisines of different cultures are a result of centuries of evolution, finely tuned to our biology and surroundings. Today many cultures have strayed from their ancestral diets, relying instead on mass-produced food often made with chemicals that may be contributing to a rise in so-called Western diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, and obesity.

STEPHEN LE is currently a Visiting Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Ottawa. He received a PhD in Biological Anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he was a recipient of a UCLA Chancellor’s Fellowship, and a National Science Foundation grant for his fieldwork in Vietnam. He lives in Ottawa, Ontario.

Stephen Le's profile page

“This deliciously entertaining book will help you to enjoy eating your food, to enjoy thinking about your food, and to stay healthy.” —Jared Diamond, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the New York Timesbestselling author ofGuns, Germs, and SteelandCollapse
"The vastness, breadth, and ambitiousness of Stephen Le's100 Million Years of Food makes it compelling and engaging."—Mark Kurlansky, author of Salt and Cod

"Le mixes advice, personal anecdotes, and medical science in this fascinating food-for-thought narrative."—Booklist

"In this accessible debut, Le offers a nimble hybrid that is equal parts travel memoir and informed speculation about the biology of human nutrition. The author, with roots in Vietnam and Canada, also explores how different cultures approach food in support of his thesis that straying from one's ancestral diets is a leading cause of modern disease. It's a surprisingly clear-eyed approach....The book's conclusions about what to eat and drink are common sense, but the journey Le takes to get usthere is worth the cover price."—Kirkus Reviews