What made a person a human being? What features of development, behavior, and interaction with the surrounding reality set them apart from the animal world? Through what paths did an ordinary mammal reach an exceptional position on the planet? Anna Pavlovskaya comes to the conclusion that one of the defining factors in the formation of the human and the foundations of existence was food. In other words, a human is an animal that learned to cook—and by doing so took the first step in domesticating nature. This book is devoted to food of ancient people, methods of preparing and storing it, rituals that accompanied its consumption, the traditions and beliefs connected with all of that—and of course, the social function of food. Written using a variety of materials, it summarizes data from history, literature, ethnography, sociology, psychology, cultural studies, and anthropology.
Anna Pavlovskaya is a Doctor of Historical Sciences, a professor, and the head of the Department of Regional Studies, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Regional Studies, MSU.