Photo: Media Bakery

One of the newest diet fads in New York is also one of the oldest. In fact, it's downright primitive.

It involves eating like a caveman, that is, stuffing your face with meat (and the occasional piece of fruit or handful of nuts) and then fasting until the next meal, just like your distant ancestors did. The idea is that the human metabolism is best suited to that sort of diet, so it is the healthiest way to eat.

The so-called “caveman diet,” described in a recent piece in the New York Times, shuns newfangled processed foods like…well, like bread. Or anything else that hit the menu after the dawn of agriculture (and civilization).

It's like the Atkins Diet if Dr. Atkins had walked around wearing a loincloth and carrying a club…

One caveman dieter interviewed by the Times keeps a meat locker in his living room (say, did the Neanderthals have those things…?). He apparently does cook the meat, conceding the invention of fire if not of side dishes. Drawing up his weekly shopping list must be a snap.

On the other hand, caveman dieters must be tougher dinner dates than even hard-core vegans. After all, even in New York, finding a place that does mastodon just the way you want it can't be easy.