4 ms·
Great article, I'm a little skeptical about the sourcing though. Most of the information seems to come from general literature (as opposed to something more ob
by tgflynn 11y ago
Great article, I'm a little skeptical about the sourcing though. Most of the information seems to come from general literature (as opposed to something more objective, like say taxation records). What people choose to write about isn't necessarily what's most common in practice. For example a visitor from France would probably be more likely to write about some strange kind of cheese he's never seen before than the bread that looks more or less similar to what he's been eating everyday.
I don't doubt the importance of dairy but I doubt it accounted for the majority of people's calorie intake.
- benbreen 11y agoAgreed, fascinating thesis but these types of big picture analysis are always as weak as their least reliable source of data. And as others have pointed out, labeling "pre colonial" Ireland as reliant on tubers makes me question their sources. I have the same problem with Pinker's "Better Angels of Our Nature" which seems hugely convincing until you check the footnotes and realize he's relying substantially on historical data from a single out of date and non peer reviewed source.