Professor Dezso Benedek's new book, Food of the Gods has arisen from the author's cultural anthropology field-work conducted among an Austronesian value lies in its endeavor to make accessible for academic research the mythology of the Tawo, a curiously anachronistic insular society. The author does not only build an ingenious and challenging theoretical framework around Shiapen Mitozid, the mythical hero of the Tawo, but also presents the primary material: the text of the myth (both in the original and in translation) recorded by the author on Irala, as well as a glossary of the language.
The extensively cited sources from ancient works provide the author with a firm standing-point for formulating his theoretical concept convincingly elucidated through his sensitive analysis. Benedek presents his case with enthusiasm and panache. His arguments, some of them complex, are invariably clear-and often deliciously clever.
Food of the Gods is a complex and erudite book not only presenting the author's own findings but it also provides primary material pivotal to the subject-matter of the book. Thus the value of the book is significantly enhanced.
Food of the Gods seems especially suitable to be used as a basis for further research in the fields of cultural anthropology and comparative mythological studies.