• I have two questions for this reading. Easy one: on page 288 it discusses that it is hard to kill rats even with poison. Then what’s in rat poison? Opinionated question: in page 287 it’s loosely stated that omnivores were practically on their own when trying new foods. Acknowledging this risk, would you be bold enough to try new stuff not knowing it could kill you?—LH

• The section “Homo Omnivorous” (Pages 289-294) talks about evolution of man’s mental wiring and how we are able to differentiate edible from non-edible foods. Many of you know people who have (or are at least aware of the existence of) food allergies. Foods that are perfectly edible for one person, may be fatal to another. Why would evolution have people be allergic to certain foods that sustain us?—BY

• Do you think our brains developed more than that of a koala because of the foods we had to be aware of eating? (Pp. 290f.)—DS

• Page 290: Why do you think it is that humans can be so picky about what they eat when our biological makeup allows for a huge variation in the possible foods we can eat?—MT

• On pg. 292, it is mentioned that much what people deem disgusting is culturally determined. How do you think these develop?—MO

• On page 292 it talks about how a good taste doesn’t necessarily mean it’s safe to eat. Why does the body often desire taste over health?—CJM

• On page 293 (pg. 7), what can be said about the evolution/creation of all these different types of foods defenses?—RG

• Page 295, “Brillat-Savarian writes, .... man (is) the only gourmand in the whole of nature ...” Is this sentence true? Do you think that if an animal was presented with two kinds of foods it’s been given before, for example, it would show preference?—JS

• On pages 297-298, they talk about just how unlimited the human diet really is. Briefly it implies that there is even the capacity to turn on and eat other human beings. What do you think could push us far enough to consume another person?—ASC

• Question comes from: p. 302-03: How does society see “family dinners” today compared to society 50 or so years ago?—HW

• Toward the bottom of page 302, the author says that 47 percent of American families sit down to dinner and rarely eat the same things. Is this only due to the broad health ideologies in the nation today, or does it point to a larger issue of distance within families?—CSt

• How will the way we now select and eat food effect our sense?—MM

• If there was a medicinal tool or medicine that could give us all of the nutrients we needed and all of the energy we needed, and satisfied hunger and cravings would you use this and not eat or would you have the desire to taste food?—CB

• Why is America the country most affected by obesity when there are fast food chains all over the world?—DE