Are Food Avoidances Maladaptive in the Ituri Forest of Zaire?

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Abstract
A rigorous case study concerning the maladaptiveness of a belief system is presented with respect to food avoidances among horticulturalists and Pygmy foragers living in the Ituri Forest of Zaire. Results indicate that only one of the four ethnic groups suffers any selective disadvantage from these cultural beliefs. Furthermore, the reduction in fitness, which occurs primarily through compromised fertility in women, is probably less than 5 percent for most affected individuals. Thus the degree of maladaptation is relatively small. Those who exhibit costly food avoidances often lack access to the culturally designated teacher of such beliefs. They must therefore turn to other individuals to learn their beliefs, and thus acquire relatively many taboos. While the nutritional cost of this system is quite small for most people, the human costs of hunger and of conformity to this potentially oppressive social system are not negligible for those who are its primary victims.

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