# Why do we enjoy the smell and taste of cooked meat, and do other animals? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 4, 2014, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-enjoy-the-smell-and-taste-of-cooked-meat-and-do-other-animals/690030 "2014-06-04T14:57:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-enjoy-the-smell-and-taste-of-cooked-meat-and-do-other-animals/690030/21 "2014-06-07T02:14:29Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > One article I read said we evolved as meat eaters by starting a scavengers, raiding the carcasses when the big predators had finished with them and walked away. Our ancestors would have also scavenged the carcasses of animals killed in the frequent grass fires of the African savanna. My favorite idea is that we acquired our taste for barbecue in this early experience with such lightly charred, medium rare viands. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-enjoy-the-smell-and-taste-of-cooked-meat-and-do-other-animals/690030/22 "2014-06-07T05:23:03Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I agree. The idea that we are naturally repulsed by the smell of grilled food does not make much sense, evolutionarily speaking. Why would have we have to learn to like the food that, pretty much, made us who we are? It’s more likely that if you’re brought thinking meat is unclean or sinful or whatever, then it’s not too surprising if you find it unattractive. Or we all have a module for repulsion which can be triggered in different ways. I don’t find it implausible that someone who had never smelled cooked meat would experience disgust. Gagging at wholly unfamiliar foods seems like something that would make evolutionary sense. Especially for foods that expose one to a higher risk of food poisoning, like meats. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-enjoy-the-smell-and-taste-of-cooked-meat-and-do-other-animals/690030/23 "2014-06-07T17:46:42Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > A lot of that is just dumb luck though. Like the glue and ink in new books smells pretty good. Yum! (inb4 Q reference) I don’t know what new books are bound with, but the old classic library paste is made from wheat flour, which is starch and a little protein. So… maybe not the most appetizing way of serving it, but actually fairly high in nutritional value (from the perspective of a genetic cave man anyway). (In fact, if you search for library paste, the top recipes add equal parts sugar to the flour, and then flavor it with mint or clove oil. If you added yeast and baked it, you’d have desert.) But when you say “dumb luck” - yes, the genetic predisposition to some random thing may be dumb luck. But when that genetic predisposition provides a survival benefit, it is selected for. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-enjoy-the-smell-and-taste-of-cooked-meat-and-do-other-animals/690030/24 "2014-06-07T18:06:15Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Also, it apparently gives us easier access to nutrients: > > “Wrangham suggested that by cooking meat, it acted as a form of “pre-digestion”, allowing less food energy intake to be spent on digesting the tougher proteins such as collagen and the tougher carbohydrates. The digestive tract shrank, allowing more energy to be given to the growing brain of H. erectus” > > [Control of fire by early humans - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_of_fire_by_early_humans#Changes_to_diet) Yep. A few years back Quirks and Quarks had [an interesting interview with Rachel Carmody](http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/Quirks+and+Quarks/ID/2166737988/), one of Wrangham’s students, which the OP might be interested in. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-enjoy-the-smell-and-taste-of-cooked-meat-and-do-other-animals/690030.md?page=1)