Cet-4-1.15-Exercise 02This comfortable cycle, in which the rhythms of the day helped shape the rhythms of the meals, gave rise to the custom of the large midday meal, eaten with the extended family. “Meal are the foundation of the family,” says Carole Counihan, a professor at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, “so there was a very important interconnection between eating together” and strengthening family ties. Since industrialization, maintaining such a slow cultural metabolism has been much harder, with the long midday meal shrinking to whatever could be stuffed into a lunch bucket or bought at a food stand. Certainly, there were benefits. Modern techniques for producing and shipping food led to greater variety and quantity, including a tremendous increase in the amount of animal protein and dairy products available, making us more vigorous than our ancestors. What does “cultural metabolism” refer to?

A. Pace of life.
B. Narrow the gap between blacks and whites.
Changes in lifestyle.
Domestic violence is lessened.