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Fallacies about FoodMany primitive1 peoples believed that by eating an animal they could get some of the good qualities of that animal for themselves. They thought, for example, that eating deer would make them run as fast as the deer. Some savage2 tribes believed that eating enemies that had shown bravery in battle would make them brave. Man-eating may have started because people were eager to become as strong and brave as their enemies.
Among civilized3 people it was once thought that ginger4 root by some magical power could improve the memory. Eggs were thought to make the voice pretty. Tomatoes also were believed to have magical powers. They were called love apples and were supposed to make people who ate them fall in love.
Later another wrong idea about tomatoes grew up - the idea that they were poisonous. How surprised the people who thought tomatoes poisonous would be if they could know that millions of pounds of tomatoes were supplied to soldiers overseas during World War II.
Even today there are a great many wrong ideas about food. Some of them are very widespread.
One such idea is that fish is the best brain food. Fish is good brain food just as it is good muscle food and skin food and bone food. But no one has been able to prove that fish is any better for the brain than many other kinds of food.
Another such idea is that you should not drink water with meals. Washing food down with water as a substitute for chewing is not a good idea, but some water with meals has been found to be helpful. It makes the digestive juices flow more freely and helps to digest the food.
Many of the ideas which scientists tell us have no foundation have to do with mixtures of foods. A few years ago the belief became general that orange juice and milk should never be drunk at the same meal. The reason given was that the acid in the orange juice would make the milk curdle5 and become indigestible. As a matter of fact, milk always meets in the stomach a digestive juice which curdles6 it; the curdling7 of the milk is the first step in its digestion8. A similar wrong idea is that fish and ice cream when eaten at the same meal form a poisonous combination.
Still another wrong idea about mixing foods is that proteins and carbohydrates10 should never be eaten at the same meal. Many people think of bread, for example, as a carbohydrate9 food. It is chiefly a carbohydrate food, but it also contains proteins. In the same way, milk, probably the best single food, contains both proteins and carbohydrates. It is just as foolish to say that one should never eat meat and potatoes together as it is to say that one should never eat bread or drink milk.
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1 primitive | |
adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物 | |
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2 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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3 civilized | |
a.有教养的,文雅的 | |
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4 ginger | |
n.姜,精力,淡赤黄色;adj.淡赤黄色的;vt.使活泼,使有生气 | |
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5 curdle | |
v.使凝结,变稠 | |
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6 curdles | |
v.(使)凝结( curdle的第三人称单数 ) | |
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7 curdling | |
n.凝化v.(使)凝结( curdle的现在分词 ) | |
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8 digestion | |
n.消化,吸收 | |
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9 carbohydrate | |
n.碳水化合物;糖类;(plural)淀粉质或糖类 | |
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10 carbohydrates | |
n.碳水化合物,糖类( carbohydrate的名词复数 );淀粉质或糖类食物 | |
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