We are in the exciting position of hosting a National Geographic team (a writer - Ann Gibbons, and a photographer, Matthieu Paley) for the next week and a half. They are working on a feature story for the magazine about the evolution of diet. Ann Gibbons contacted me in late October through my advisors, Dr. Susan Tanner (UGA) and William Leonard (Northwestern University), with whom she's collaborated in the past. Over a couple months of planning, we organized and set up this trip. Kelly and I will be taking them upriver to Anachere with us for a little more than a week. They'll be following us around conducting interviews as well as roaming a bit on their own taking photos.
Here is a brief description of the story: "The story will take a look at the evolution of diet, starting with australopithecines and moving through Homo erectus to major transitions in diet in Homo sapiens. We can't photograph real paleodiets, obviously, and we know that the diets of hunter-gatherers or foragers are not paleodiets, but they do reflect the diversity of ancient diets in a way. [It will also] explore how the legacy of different diets, activity levels and genetics influences how different groups respond differently today to the nutrition transition."
The main reason they're coming to visit the Tsimane' community upriver where we work is because they still hunt and fish almost daily to get their sources of protein and part of my research centers on diet change. This story will challenge the model that there was only one paleo-diet that humans ate before the agricultural revolution (espoused by the current fad diet) and instead will discuss how multiple paleo diets existed, i.e., humans ate whatever was accessible to them based on their environmental resources (not exact ratios).
It is important to reiterate that living populations are not relics of older hunter-gatherer populations and Tsimane' have a dynamic culture. They interact with the larger regional market economy and the broader Bolivian diet has influenced their health and dietary patterns.
With this trip, we've changed our plans for January. We were going to go to Campo Bello around this time, but instead we're heading back upriver because when National Geographic comes calling, you can't say no (fortune and glory, kid. Fortune and glory). We'll be leaving Monday January 6th (weather permitting) and returning January 14th. We'll try to write a quick post upon return, but we're looking at a quick turn-around ourselves to get to Campo Bello around the 19th of January.
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