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Food is material, usually of animal or plant origin, consumed by living things to provide energy and/or nutrition. Liquids used for this purpose are often called drink, but the term food applies to them as well. In English, the term is sometimes used metaphorically, as in food for thought.

History of human eating habits

Whether you're an evolutionist or creationist there's a history to human eating which goes through changes up to the present day (and presumably will continue to do so into the future). Some say people began with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden as described in the Book of Genesis and, if so, then eating the wrong thing got us where we are today.

On the other hand, evolutionism suggests that we evolved from a creature very similar to Gorillas, Orangutans and Chimpanzees. If this is the case then maybe our diet started out somewhat like theirs. This would mean we ate enormous amounts of plant source material with the odd caterpillar or termite thrown in. There wouldn't have been much meat (Gorillas and Orangutans eat only plant source food and Chimps eat plants plus some very occasional meat).

If Creationists are right God said we could eat every green plant but not the fruit of the apple tree in centre of the garden. This was the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. Later on in the Bible, after Adam and Eve have been thrown out of the garden, Cain planted crops and Abel herded animals.

Humans are omnivores, creatures that consume both plant and meat product for nutrition. It's probable that our species began in the African rain forests eating a plant type of diet and then migrated across the continents searching for food sources as the Ice Age made it increasingly difficult to find something to eat. We changed from gatherers to hunter gatherers and then, as conditions began to improve, we invented agriculture. After the experience of the Ice Age it is probable that humans wanted to create some feeling of security by controlling what plants were growing and which animals were available, so it would've made sense to keep areas of land where a particular crop was grown or animals grazed.

Over the thousands of years since then traditions in food and its acquisition have come and gone and been the source of controversies, of wars, and of celebrations.

Food is often eaten as part of a meal. Food eaten between meals is referred to as a "between meal" snack. The number of meals in a day, their size and when they are eaten are greatly dependent on cultural traditions. Contemporary societies pressures (work pace, family time, other considerations) have affected the traditional daily meal strategy. Concerns about nutrition and diet have also had an effect on this.

One can find a number of different diets today, including fad diets such as the Atkins diet. See List of diets.

Basic foods:

Food for humans is mostly produced through farming or gardening, and includes animal and vegetable sources. Many people forgo food from animal sources to varying degrees; see vegetarianism and veganism.

Types of manufactured food:

Food production or acquisition:

Food handling and preparation:

Nutrients in food

Knowledge about the nutritional components, and the interactions of these components in human metabolism for an ideal diet is an expanding area of knowledge.

Food safety

Food and religion

Food for animals

Food for livestock is known as fodder, and may be served in a manger, a trough of box found in a stable.

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