by Nina Elder
WHAT’S HAPPENING
- A small subset of New York City dwellers is going back — way back — to a prehistoric way of life (NYTimes.com 1.10.10).
- These elemental 20- and 30somethings (called cavemen, paleos or hunter-gatherers) believe in a lifestyle that’s more similar to that of our very ancient ancestors. They eat large quantities of meat, skip carbs and processed foods and often fast for days at a time to re-create prehistoric famines. To keep in shape, they do cavemen-esque workouts like scrambling through the woods on all fours and playing catch with stones. We are not making this up.
- Paleos believe that ancient humans were stronger and healthier than humans today and that agribusiness and civilized living has made us stressed, soft and prone to chronic diseases. Going back to basics is supposed to bring the body back into balance.
WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS
- For years, consumers have been eschewing processed foods in favor of whole, local, organic grub. The caveman movement is a way of pushing that envelope (much) further.
- Everything old — canning, making your own bread, gardening — is new (and cool) again. Caveman-style living takes this idea to the logical extreme.
- In a marketplace where the Primitive Diet is gaining steam and urbanites are signing up for deer-hunting lessons, living like a prehistoric human makes a little more sense.
