For over half a million years food and the search for it have influenced both human and historical development. The study of food lends itself to multiple "ologies" - anthropology, biology, ecology, mythology, technology and zoology among them. (Food in History, viii) Because food is an imperative element of human survival, and because there has never been any other satisfactory human body fuel that could replace it, abundant lore about food has appeared throughout human society and culture. From evidence in ancient (and modern) burial grounds to classical and contemporary literature, from verbal tradition to recorded histories, from ballads to poetry, from stories about food practices and their numerous meanings, foodways have been present wherever people are gathered. (Foodways and Folklore, viii)