How did the first homo sapiens figure out what to eat? Not fruits and other things that they saw animals eat. I mean like how did they figure out you could eat garlic? Or potatoes? Did they just cook everything and feed it to animals (if any were domesticated) or feed it to their POW’s and test the results?
They probably tried eating anything that they could swallow and took it from there. If they regurgitated it they probably didn’t eat it again. If they kept it down and became ill they might try it again just to make sure. If they died the others probably made the connection after a while. I would still love to have seen the first two guys fighting over who would try an oyster first.
The first humans discovered what was good to eat the same way I did. Mamma said, “You’ll eat what I put in front of you, Young Man, or you’ll go to bed hungry!”
The first humans didn’t just appear out of the void with no ancestors. The line between human and non-human was not a clear cut division, but gradual evolution. As humans expanded their territory, they used trial and error to determine what was good to eat and what was not. The more adventurous ones tried new things and if the didn’t get sick or die, they shared their finds with others.