# Why do humans cook their food? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 20, 2023, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-cook-their-food/991846 "2023-10-20T16:31:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2023, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-cook-their-food/991846/81 "2023-10-25T17:52:11Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Due to evolution, that’s a circular effect. People who prefer the flavor of cooked foods will be less likely to die from food-borne pathogens, thus passing on their preference to their progeny in greater numbers. Has it been shown that a preference for cooked food is a passable genetic trait? Given the huge range of food prep methods and tastes across different cultures, I have my doubts. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2023, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-cook-their-food/991846/82 "2023-10-25T17:56:25Z")
Do other omnivores and carnivores show preference for cooked meat after natural fires? (Serious question; I have no idea, and don’t really know where to look. Anybody else know where to look?) ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2023, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-cook-their-food/991846/83 "2023-10-25T18:01:02Z")
My cats like cooked turkey. But they mostly like wet cat food, which is probably a degenerate variant of “cooked meat”. They do not show any liking for raw-type meat. Small sample, I know. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2023, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-cook-their-food/991846/84 "2023-10-25T18:04:33Z")
Small sample, and semi-domesticated species. Mine don’t seem to have a preference – will happily eat cooked meat, yowl at me for raw though they don’t usually get it, and eat raw with apparent enthusiasm what they catch for themselves. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2023, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-cook-their-food/991846/85 "2023-10-25T19:04:16Z")
> [@Dorjan](#): > > Has it been shown that a preference for cooked food is a passable genetic trait? It might be a passable cultural trait. Cultures also evolve to take advantage of successful strategies. And in a very broad sense, it’s not just humans who pass “knowledge” to the next generation. Cats mostly prey on the animals their mothers taught them to hunt. This is a significant factor in humans rarely being the preferred food of carnivores. (We kill individual carnivores who eat people , but might just keep a wide berth from others.) My father grew sweet corn for many years, until one hungry squirrel discovered it was good to eat. That knowledge quickly spread to all the squirrels, and he had to struggle to grow corn after that. Evolution clearly acts on culture as well as on genes. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2023, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-cook-their-food/991846/86 "2023-10-25T19:32:08Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > As mentioned upthread, not only did humans evolve the ability to take advantage of cook meat, but eating cooked meat appears to be a pivotal step in the subsequent evolution of our advanced brains. It is entirely possible that while we have partially evolved to benefit from cooked food, but that many, many other animals could (and in some cases do now that they’re our companions) benefit more from cooked food than raw. All my dogs and cats have eaten prepared pet food and they did great. The difference is that humans were smart enough to figure out how to do it. It is pretty clear that the genus Homo was getting pretty smart BEFORE cooking. The earliest evidence of cooking dates to about 800,000 BC; it probably started a bit before that. While there were no true modern humans then, there were some pretty clever Homo sapiens-adjacent folks; tools date back twice as far as that. So I suspect that cooking just happens to be good for a lot of animals, and Homo erectus or some other precursor humans figured out how to cook for themselves. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2023, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-cook-their-food/991846/87 "2023-10-26T15:08:53Z")
And obviously there’s been a ecological niche for larger “great apes” well beyond central Africa for millions of years. Here’s one identified in Spain 12 million years ago, long before cooking was utilized. > **[Pierolapithecus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierolapithecus)** > > Pierolapithecus catalaunicus is an extinct species of primate which lived around 12.5-13 million years ago during the Miocene in what is now Hostalets de Pierola, Catalonia, Spain. Some researchers believe that it is a candidate for common ancestor to the great ape clade, or is at least closer than any previous fossil discovery. Others suggest it being a pongine, or a dryopith. On 16 October 2023, scientists reported the facial reconstruction of the great ape. > The splanchnocranium was discover... Wikipedia also mentions (in Australopithecus) evidence of animal butchery and possible stone tools at 3M years ago, give or take, although fossil tooth indications are a primarily herbivore diet. So it’s possible adaption to cooked food was a regression in the last 1M or less years from eating raw meat. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-cook-their-food/991846/88 "2023-10-27T08:21:43Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > I’ve heard it said that we’re supposed to be vegetarians, since we can’t eat raw flesh. > [@gnoitall](#): > > I’ve heard stupid contrafactual things too. That particular lie is a popular militant vegan special. Not that this is a ‘both sides’ thing, but this kind of nonsense is common from anyone pushing an agenda where they have accepted as truth that you _absolutely must_, or _absolutely must **not** _ eat or do some specific thing. ‘We’re not _supposed_ to do that’ is an easy, but often fallacious debating point. There is a smaller, but also vocal (and wrong, and absurd) faction that argues we should eat _nothing but_ meat, as well as people who argue we shouldn’t ever eat wheat, or probably any other food you can think of. Insofar as there is any ‘supposed to’ with the human diet, we are adapted to survive on a very wide range of foods. It seems fairly clear that we should eat fruits and vegetables, because we can’t synthesise vitamin C, and we die without it, and it seems equally clear we should eat some animal-based foods, because that’s where vitamin B12 is commonly found, and we die without it. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-cook-their-food/991846/89 "2023-10-27T10:12:45Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > There is a smaller, but also vocal (and wrong, and absurd) faction that argues we should eat _nothing but_ meat I have a friend in this camp. He’s not quite that extreme. I think he believes it’s okay to eat a limited amount of fruit. But he once subsisted on nothing but raw meat for several months to prove that he could get enough vitamin C from fresh raw meat. (Maybe organ meat) And he thinks that since vegetables mount chemicals defenses against being eaten, they are bad for us. Completely ignoring that we obviously evolved to eat some vegetables, AND that modern vegetables have been bred to be less toxic AND that cooking vegetables greatly decreases the effectiveness of the remaining toxins. Spoiler alert: the guy has a lot of weird health problems. I don’t think any have been directly linked to his weird diet, and it could certainly be coincidence. But he’s not a stunning endorsement of the [carnivore diet](https://www.amplemeal.com/blogs/home/a-balanced-look-at-the-carnivore-diet#:~:text=It%20turns%20out%20fresh%20beef,but%20it%20could%20be%20enough.). ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-cook-their-food/991846/90 "2023-10-27T12:06:02Z")
I think it was Heinlein who was making fun of “…we weren’t meant to…” logic when one of his characters said “If humans were meant to eat cooked food, we’d have an oven in our throats.” ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-cook-their-food/991846/91 "2023-10-27T12:27:17Z")
I’ve found that the more eagerly someone tells you that you have to adjust your diet, and the greater severity of terminology they use, the less they are really worth listening to (medical professionals excepted). ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-cook-their-food/991846/92 "2023-10-27T12:36:08Z")
I find it instructive that the whole world wide and through history, the only cultures or groups that are vegan are either those subclasses who cannot afford meat, or those groups who have a particular religious conviction that eating meat is immoral. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-cook-their-food/991846/93 "2023-10-27T12:47:48Z")
Indeed, and they survived by getting their B12 from accidentally eating insects or insect poop (in grains or other stored foods) ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-cook-their-food/991846/94 "2023-10-27T13:29:33Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I’ve found that the more eagerly someone tells you that you have to adjust your diet, and the greater severity of terminology they use, the less they are really worth listening to (medical professionals excepted). I wouldn’t even exempt all the medical professionals; especially if they’re not talking about a diet needed because of some specific physical problem (such as failing kidneys, not such as obesity.) ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-cook-their-food/991846/95 "2023-10-27T17:37:31Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > have a friend in this camp. He’s not quite that extreme. I think he believes it’s okay to eat a limited amount of fruit. But he once subsisted on nothing but raw meat for several months to prove that he could get enough vitamin C from fresh raw meat. (Maybe organ meat) And he thinks that since vegetables mount chemicals defenses against being eaten, they are bad for us. The Owsley diet, he was famous for that. He thought plants were trying to kill us in that sense, they have all sorts of defense mechanisms to try and discourage (generally) being dined upon. Cooking some vegetables and roots or tubers definitely takes the digestion stage along a little farther, breaking them down, making them more palatable, and nutrient bioavailability. Roasting nuts pretty much destroys aflotoxin. Depending on the time and place, it is extremely difficult if not impossible to obtain the necessary nutrition for heavy exertion on locally available plants alone. A key example of that is the 1803-1806 Lewis and Clark expedition. Practically lost in the Rocky Mountains in the winter, the luxurious plains buffalo, elk and deer were practically nonexistent. So were many of the plants or tubers that stood in for say, potatoes. They did have some elk and deer meat, but they were in such poor emaciated condition, the meat was so lean or devoid of any fat, each member of the expedition was consuming up 8 to 10 pounds daily and they were still hungry. A party of about 35 or 40 people were actually starving, and ill, because an excess of protein without fats is toxic. In cold weather especially, sufficient fat is required. They were reduced to eating their horses, and dogs, skins, leather etc. Maybe there are better examples but it is well documented. , ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-cook-their-food/991846/96 "2023-10-27T17:59:44Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > I read an article decades ago (so I won’t vouch for the accuray of either the article or my memory) that they found that ancient hunters of large animals suffered similar injuries as rodeo riders. In attempting to source this information, I found an article that actually discounts the theory. (My bolds) > [@](#): > > Early human trauma hadn’t been as well studied as Neanderthal trauma. Statistically speaking, Trinkaus saw no difference between the two species’ wounds; they both suffered a lot of harm to the head and neck. This means ambush hunting may not account for all of these injuries because humans often hurled projectiles at animals while standing back at a safe distance. Recent archaeological work indicates Neanderthals might have done the same thing on occasion. Instead, **the source of those injuries might have been violent attacks within or between the two species**. > > Then again, Trinkaus suggests, Neanderthals and humans might not have had an abnormal amount of upper body trauma after all. He points out that **even minor injuries to the head can leave marks on the skull because there isn’t a lot of tissue separating the skin and bone. Arms and legs, however, have fat and muscle that safeguard the bones against more minor flesh wounds**. So, anthropologists may not be getting a good estimate of trauma to these parts of the body. > > Another factor might also be masking lower body injuries—the mobile lifestyle of Stone Age hominids. Both humans and Neanderthals moved around a lot to find appropriate food and shelter. **An individual who couldn’t keep up with the group, due to a broken leg, say, might have been left behind to die, perhaps in places where their bones didn’t readily preserve**. (Trinkaus acknowledges that some fossils of old, sick Neanderthals have been found. But although their afflictions, such as arthritis, would have been painful, they wouldn’t have prevented them from walking.) > **[Neanderthals Weren’t Stone Age Rodeo Riders?](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/neanderthals-werent-stone-age-rodeo-riders-3725795/)** > > Neanderthal injuries are often compared to those of rodeo riders, but these cowboys may not be the best guide to our cousins' trauma > [@Common\_Tater](#): > > A party of about 35 or 40 people were actually starving, and ill, because an excess of protein without fats is toxic. Isn’t this what happens with rabbit starvation? > **[Rabbit starvation: Why you can die even with a stomach full of lean meat](https://theprepared.com/blog/rabbit-starvation-why-you-can-die-even-with-a-stomach-full-of-lean-meat/)** > > “You’ll starve to death if you only eat rabbit meat” is one of those common refrains you learn when getting into survival. It’s a fun fact you might share over a beer or to show off how woodsy you are to your LARPer friends. And while it’s actually... One reason that fish is so good to eat, I surmise, is that fish contains essential fatty acids along with protein. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-cook-their-food/991846/97 "2023-10-27T18:20:46Z")
The funny thing is that while I’m sure wild rabbits can be very lean, leading to the name “rabbit starvation”, the couple of times I’ve had (farmed, domestic) rabbit meat, it was quite fatty. ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-cook-their-food/991846/98 "2023-10-27T18:26:50Z")
Yes, and Lewis and Clark definitely sought out fish and berries as much as they could. Highly sought after trade goods, they were able to source pacific caught dried fish well into the interior West. But 30 or 40 people in the winter, in the mountains, hauling canoes up waterfalls and stuff like that day after day will really take the starch out of your sails. Even with modern supply routes and improved nutrition it would admittedly have been difficult not to lose weight/muscle due to their calorie expenditure. As someone has pointed out while there are no “essential carbohydrates”, without adequate fat and protein we will die. This is also where Lewis broke out the “portable soup”, an early bouillon/beef with a fair amount of fat, perhaps. Sealed in metal tins and purchased in Philadelphia, it might have been the largest single expenditure for the expedition. Everybody hated it. > **[Portable Soup - Discover Lewis & Clark](https://lewis-clark.org/tools-and-techniques/cooking/portable-soup/)** > > In the 1750s the British Navy had begun issuing 50 pounds of portable soup for every 100 sailors on long voyages. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-cook-their-food/991846/99 "2023-10-27T21:26:49Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > > [@Common\_Tater](#): > > > > A party of about 35 or 40 people were actually starving, and ill, because an excess of protein without fats is toxic. > > Isn’t this what happens with rabbit starvation? I recall one article denigrating the Atkins diet, saying the only reason it works safely is because those following it are consuming a substantial amount of fat along with their meat protein. IIRC they also mentioned the “liquid protein diet” fad (not that one, get your mind out of the gutter!). At the time, it involved celebrities consuming nothing but a disgusting-looking pink protein liquid. Not the best thing when everyone else around the table is having a regular meal, but apparently rich people can get away with a lot. It apparently stopped fairly quickly when some of the participants started exhibiting interesting medical issues, including organ failure(?). ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-cook-their-food/991846/100 "2023-10-27T21:32:07Z")
> [@Common\_Tater](#): > > But 30 or 40 people in the winter, in the mountains, hauling canoes up waterfalls and stuff like that day after day will really take the starch out of your sails. Apparently the same happened with the doomed Scott Antarctic expedition. They were hauling sleds across the snow themselves, having killed all the animals, and were using 8,000 to 10,000 calories a day; not the best time to be running low on food and cooking fuel or warm dry clothes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-cook-their-food/991846.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-humans-cook-their-food/991846.md?page=6)