Discussion Questions
Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary
Roach
Source: Madison Public Library www.madisonpubliclibrary.org
1. Roach writes in her introduction, “When it comes to literature about eating, science
has been a little hard to hear amid the clamor of cuisine. Just as we adorn sex with
the fancy gold-leaf filigree of love, so we dress the need for sustenance in the finery
of cooking and connoisseurship…the human equipment—and the delightful,
unusual people who study it—are at least as interesting as the photogenic
arrangements we push through it.” Do you agree with Roach? Why do you think
there is a general aversion to what happens to food after we swallow?
2. Did you read Gulp in its entirety? Were there topics Roach investigated that you
thought beyond the bounds of taste, or too gross?
3. Do you think the ick factor associated with digestion holds back medical research
on important health concerns? How did you view the scientists who were doing
research on digestive issues?
4. Has this book changed your perspective on how your body works? Has it made you
more curious or less inclined to investigate digestion?
5. What was the most surprising thing you learned from Roach?
6. Roach has covered other taboo topics such as sex, cadavers and the afterlife in a
light hearted manner, but all based on serious science. Does her humorous
approach make discussion of these topics easier to stomach? Or does her lighter
tone downplay the importance of the research being done on these topics?
7. Towards the end of the book, Roach examines the use of fecal material for
transplant into patients suffering from bacterial infections, a practice that has a
high success rate and costs little. Would you ever be interested in being a fecal
matter donor? Why or why not?
8. When Roach is interviewing Inuit about the consumption of organs, she writes that
“to a far greater extent than most of us realize, culture writes the menu.” Can you
think of foods that are particularly prized in one culture while being shunned in
another? If you’ve lived overseas, were you able to adapt to the local cuisine? Why
or why not?
Madison Public Library
www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/bookclubs
rev. May 2014