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Pirahãs consume everything as soon as it is hunted or gathered. They preserve nothing for themselves (leftovers are eaten until they are gone, even if the meat begins to turn rancid). Baskets and food are short-term projects.
Pirahãs consider hunger a useful way to toughen themselves. Missing a meal or two, or even going without eating for a day, is taken in stride. I have seen people dance for three days with only brief breaks, not hunting, fishing, or gathering—and without any stockpiled food.
Pirahãs in the city for the first time are always surprised by Western eating habits, especially the custom of eating three meals a day. For their first meal outside of the village, most Pirahãs eat greedily—large quantities of protein and starch. For the second meal they eat the same. By the third meal they begin to show frustration. They look puzzled. Often they ask, "Are we eating again?" Their own practice of eating food when it is available until it is gone now conflicts with the circumstances in which food is always available and never gone.
Pirahãs consider hunger a useful way to toughen themselves. Missing a meal or two, or even going without eating for a day, is taken in stride. I have seen people dance for three days with only brief breaks, not hunting, fishing, or gathering—and without any stockpiled food.
Pirahãs in the city for the first time are always surprised by Western eating habits, especially the custom of eating three meals a day. For their first meal outside of the village, most Pirahãs eat greedily—large quantities of protein and starch. For the second meal they eat the same. By the third meal they begin to show frustration. They look puzzled. Often they ask, "Are we eating again?" Their own practice of eating food when it is available until it is gone now conflicts with the circumstances in which food is always available and never gone.
