Diet Breadth

The diet breadth model is based on the concept of ranking resources based on the returns or benefits provided by the resource relative to the cost of acquiring and processing the resource. Some of the predictions the model makes include: (1) the optimal diet will become specialized if high-ranked resources become abundant and acquisition costs decline; and (2) lower-ranked resources may be added to the diet if higher-ranked resources decline and their acquisition cost increases. There are of course, many other considerations that likely came into play that cannot be easily factored into such models, such as personal preferences, but generally it is assumed that a hunter-gatherer made rational choices based on which foods delivered the biggest nutritional “bang for the buck,” so to speak, or what would provide the highest energy return.