It’s a truism—or maybe, à la Stephen Colbert, a truthyism—that whatever was old will be new again, or at least trendy. Case in point, pointed out by Elizabeth Kolbert in her piece “Stone Soup,” about the paleo diet. It seems that the diet is part of a larger paleo paradigm involving Stone Age exercise, sleep, hygiene, and so on.
My argument against the simple life style is simple, and I don’t even have to make it. Alex Gregory’s cartoon does it for me.
But what exactly was the paleo diet anyway? As Kolbert points out, our Stone Age ancestors left no menus or cookbooks. And the cartoon evidence is contradictory.
Perhaps this slide show on caveman-and-woman cuisine from the archive will help to clarify the historical record. In any case, enjoy!
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