3 ms·

I don't recall where I read it, but: > Yes the tradition spread, but people don’t live in the same place our ancestors did 600 years ago either. Yes, they do

by oblio 3y ago

I don't recall where I read it, but: > Yes the tradition spread, but people don’t live in the same place our ancestors did 600 years ago either. Yes, they do :-) The vast majority of people, especially in underdeveloped or developing countries, DO live in the general area where their ancestors moved during the last migration, which for some was thousands of years ago. People really don't move away unless it's easy or they're forced to. And my comment also included stuff like food. Most current food is modern.

Retric 3y ago
Most people have 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 16 great grandparents, etc out to several generations before incest kids in. Many of those people stayed in place, but when you’re talking hundreds of thousands of people they aren’t all sedentary. Even just within Africa there’s been a huge amount of migration recently. Not all of this was even voluntarily. I have ancestors that trace back to Spanish Armada in 1588 getting stuck in England. > Most current food is modern. Only by the strictest interpretation of recipes. Most food is remixes of ancient staples like bread and cheese, or like tomatoes local plants that spread hundreds of years ago. You could get a cheeseburger, as in ground beef topped with cheese served on a bun, going back to antiquity. Thomas Jefferson had "potatoes served in the French manner" at a White House dinner in 1802. Thin sliced potatoes boiled in oil may have first entered the western diet all the way back in 1623, but we don’t know what "papas fritas" means. Staples like rice are obviously ancient and still make up a large part of peoples diets.
- oblio 3y ago
  Spices are new to most of the world outside of elites. Food used to be very bland for most people. Meat was super expensive for most people, it was hardly a mass market thing to be eaten every day. I could go on and on :-) Thomas Jefferson was an American elite. Americans have had it much better, or at least richer, than most of the rest of the world, for far longer.
  - Retric 3y ago
    Again new != more common. Peoples diets can change significantly even if the foods they eat doesn’t. That said meat was more common than generally portrayed. Fish has been a staple food in much of the world for a long time. Dramatically lower human population until recently means overfishing has largely been a more recent concern.

by oblio 3y ago

Retric 3y ago

Most people have 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 16 great grandparents, etc out to several generations before incest kids in. Many of those people stayed in place, but when you’re talking hundreds of thousands of people they aren’t all sedentary. Even just within Africa there’s been a huge amount of migration recently. Not all of this was even voluntarily. I have ancestors that trace back to Spanish Armada in 1588 getting stuck in England. > Most current food is modern. Only by the strictest interpretation of recipes. Most food is remixes of ancient staples like bread and cheese, or like tomatoes local plants that spread hundreds of years ago. You could get a cheeseburger, as in ground beef topped with cheese served on a bun, going back to antiquity. Thomas Jefferson had "potatoes served in the French manner" at a White House dinner in 1802. Thin sliced potatoes boiled in oil may have first entered the western diet all the way back in 1623, but we don’t know what "papas fritas" means. Staples like rice are obviously ancient and still make up a large part of peoples diets.

oblio 3y ago
Spices are new to most of the world outside of elites. Food used to be very bland for most people. Meat was super expensive for most people, it was hardly a mass market thing to be eaten every day. I could go on and on :-) Thomas Jefferson was an American elite. Americans have had it much better, or at least richer, than most of the rest of the world, for far longer.
- Retric 3y ago
  Again new != more common. Peoples diets can change significantly even if the foods they eat doesn’t. That said meat was more common than generally portrayed. Fish has been a staple food in much of the world for a long time. Dramatically lower human population until recently means overfishing has largely been a more recent concern.