Food in Ibn Khaldun’s Muqaddimah
Abstract
I examine the place of food in Muqaddimah, written by late 14th century North African Arab thinker Ibn Khaldun. Muqaddimah is a founding source of anthropological theory, and an early attempt at universal history. Through a narrative integrating selected extracts from the source, I show that food, for Ibn Khaldun, is at the root of humanity and society.