ABSTRACT
This chapter presents evolutionary models of food acquisition, and discusses examples of the associated empirical research among humans. The principal focus will be upon hunter-gatherers and forager-horticulturalists with little or no market involvement. The chapter examines subsistence decisions, given the technology and resource acquisition abilities of the people in question. It assesses progress toward the complementary goals of explaining observed variation in diet and food acquisition strategies among and within human groups and developing general models of behavioral decision making. The chapter reviews the application of optimization theory to dietary decisions and the most general foraging models: prey choice, patch choice, and combined prey and patch choice models. It discusses ways in which traditional human economies are likely to violate the assumptions of most existing foraging models, and some areas in which studies of humans are likely to contribute to a general understanding of subsistence behavior in all organisms.
