Take an average population of humans ...

Post #337,799 by drook 12/28/10 8:14:35 PM Reply	Take an average population of humans ... Think they'd figure out cooking on their own? In how many generations? I don't know anyone who independently invented the concept of cooking. We all learned it from someone else who already knew it. -- Drew
Post #337,844 by jake123 12/29/10 10:16:55 PM Reply	You cannot speak of a human being without speaking of its culture. And cooking is always part of it. We cooked before we were human. I suspect we're wired for it.
Post #337,850 by mhuber 12/30/10 1:13:03 AM Reply	More than wired Apparently we evolved a gut that takes less resources (allowing more for brains) but doesn't actually run on raw food. Homo sap on raw food diets survive but are not able to reproduce. --------------------------------------- I think it's perfectly clear we're in the wrong band. (Tori Amos)
Post #337,852 by Andrew Grygus 12/30/10 1:27:08 AM Reply	You mean all those "raw foods" nutters . . . . . are going to go extinct all on their own? I find it highly amusing that "raw foods" enthusiasts import their cashews from Indonesia where there is one company that claims they do not use heat to detoxify them. The pulp around a cashew kernel is extremely toxic, causing serious blistering, etc., so most processors use moderate heat to see to it their "raw" cashews are non-toxic. This, of course, means they do not pass the litmus test for "truly raw". Of course Indonesians are Asians, and many are even of Chinese descent, so what are the chances this vendor is actually doing what he claims to be doing? For every predator there is a rightful prey.
Post #337,853 by mhuber 12/30/10 2:18:10 AM Reply	Yeah, but more or less on purpose The few I've met consider reproduction a crime against nature. So having the monthly cycle shut down isn't exactly a disaster... --------------------------------------- I think it's perfectly clear we're in the wrong band. (Tori Amos)
Post #337,856 by static 12/30/10 3:55:53 AM Reply	The documentary covers this. They had a group of volunteers eat raw fruit and vegetables like the apes do for two weeks. All of them lost weight because none of them could get enough nutrition from the ancient diet. Many of them could not get through the required quantities, either! It turns out our teeth are shaped wrong and our gut is too small for a diet of raw fruit and vegetables. Our teeth are shaped for mincing and pulping cooked food. They also had an artifical stomach for experimenting with how ours processed different foods. Raw food was much harder to process than cooked food. I've already mentioned the brief experiment in what happens to food as it is cooked: it destroys the structures we can't digest so we can get to the nutrients locked inside. Wade. Q:Is it proper to eat cheeseburgers with your fingers? A:No, the fingers should be eaten separately.
Post #337,851 by Andrew Grygus 12/30/10 1:14:31 AM Reply	Cooking food made possible a larger or . . . . . more resilient human population, because the process detoxifies many plant foods. Non-human primates are very reluctant to move from feeding on one tree to another because even within the same species toxicity varies significantly. Usually the more marginal members of the clan are "encouraged" to try out a new tree before the main group moves to it. Particularly cyanide toxins (a common plant biological defense) are driven off by cooking, but many others as well. Also, relatively indigestible plant materials are rendered digestible and nutritious by cooking. Of course overcooking vegetables (see England and Germany) has a deleterious effect on both flavor and nutrition.
Post #337,854 by mhuber 12/30/10 2:19:16 AM Reply	Makes grain almost food-like --------------------------------------- I think it's perfectly clear we're in the wrong band. (Tori Amos)

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