Do chimps prefer the taste of cooked food over raw food?
Preferences of other great apes, and even other animals in general, would also be interesting to know.
I actually just heard about this very topic… let me track that down…
Ah, that’s right. It was an interview with Richard Wrangham, who wrote a book on the evolution of cooking in humans. Unfortunately I can’t find the transcript, but I remember that it mentioned an experiment where very simply cooked food was provided for some sort of primates at a reserve. Basically food that was tossed in a fire, versus the same uncooked food. The primates in question showed a marked preference for cooked food when they could find it.
From the Master’s Archives:
“Catching Fire” by Richard Wrangham explores all such questions. Yes, chimps prefer cooked foods. More to the point of the book, they get a lot more calories out of cooked foods than raw and don’t spend hours each day (literally) masticating it. That’s why raw carrots are a good diet snack despite the fact that they are relatively high in calories and glycemic index.