Did cooking make us human?

[Deep Sea Isopod]

(Unfortunately this prog is available in the UK only)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... _Us_Human/

We are the only species on earth that cooks its food - and we are also the cleverest species on the planet. The question is: do we cook because we're clever and imaginative, or are we clever and imaginative because our ancestors discovered cooking?

Horizon examines the evidence that our ancestors' changing diet and their mastery of fire prompted anatomical and neurological changes that resulted in taking us out of the trees and into the kitchen.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00r9svk#synopsis < More info about this prog.


This was really interesting. Made me hungry though.
Homo erectus may have been cooking meat 1million years ago, releasing more energy into our bodies, so our stomachs got smaller and our brains were able to get bigger.

Pretty cool, uh?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

You can't argue with the Book.

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

[maiforpeace]

I probably can't comment properly since I didn't see the program, but I have read a few books that touched on the subject.

We are the only species on earth that cooks its food - and we are also the cleverest species on the planet. The question is: do we cook because we're clever and imaginative, or are we clever and imaginative because our ancestors discovered cooking?

Most culinary discoveries were made entirely by mistake. I suspect meat fell into the fire and that's how we started cooking, because it just tasted better.

Cheese? Someone stored milk in a stomach and it curded. Beer? Someone soaked grain in water and forgot about it and it fermented...

I would suggest the latter reasoning of "are we clever and imaginative because our ancestors discovered cooking" to the question posed, only because it follows a more evolutionary path.

[Deep Sea Isopod]

I probably can't comment properly since I didn't see the program, but I have read a few books that touched on the subject.

We are the only species on earth that cooks its food - and we are also the cleverest species on the planet. The question is: do we cook because we're clever and imaginative, or are we clever and imaginative because our ancestors discovered cooking?

Most culinary discoveries were made entirely by mistake. I suspect meat fell into the fire and that's how we started cooking, because it just tasted better.
.

Yes, they said that in the prog. I did wonder if maybe after a few forest fires they went around scavenging the burnt animal remains (as the fruit would've been destroyed.)