Re:Did our early ancestors boil their food in hot springs?
by gibolt on Sunday September 20, 2020 @03:15AM
(#24532439)
It generally tastes better cooked, or at least was different. For those who started doing it, they got the unknown benefit of more energy absorption leading to a long-term societal evolution to do so to most food (as they had a better survival chance).
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Re:Did our early ancestors boil their food in hot springs?
by interator7 on Sunday September 20, 2020 @03:40AM
(#24532520)
Wouldn't it only have tasted better as a result of evolution selecting for gene lines that preferred cooked food(more efficient calorie intake)?
Re:Did our early ancestors boil their food in hot springs?
by vitus on Sunday September 20, 2020 @07:55AM
(#24533452)
Not necessarily! Due to chemical reactions, certain foods are sweeter, less bitter, and so forth when cooked. (e.g. onions caramelize, glucosinolates [0] in kale leach out when blanching)
Evolution already predisposed us to like sugary foods (e.g. fruit) and dislike bitter ones [1].
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucosinolate
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitter_taste_evolution#Toxins_...