Food for thoughts ...
Being a foodie sometimes i just wonder who taught us to cook rice, to make bread and so many of those delicious dishes, cooked and processed saviors that helped us to survive every day. Who was that first man/woman who invented those , yes as per me these inventions are life changing and no where less than any major scientific revolutions that we observed. When we were living in the cave also i read that human started learn the usage of fire. But the major breakthrough is knowing the usage of Salt. How many of the human sacrificed their life as a young apprentice while trying some new fruit / fish/ milk. Not everything is edible in this world. Out of those trillions things to figure out and eat what is right, that is a great elimination round that we have passed without any trace. Current form of Homo Sapiens exists in this world around 200,000 years ( source ) so how eventually the food also evolve in different phases around the same duration of time. Like our races , color , diversity developed - likewise the food also developed. We know so much about the evolution of homo sapiens I am not much aware of the history of food, so i am trying to capture some of the breakthrough here:
Salt - I didn't give my kids salt till they were 7 months, i don't know from when and where it started, my mother told me not to give them salt so that there taste remains intact for the milk. But this knowledge has transferred from generations. So who is the first father/mother who observed this and pass this info from generations. But without salt none of the food will taste as yummy as they taste today. First trace of salt usage in 2700 B.C refer. Not only as a food, the usage of salt in food preservation, medicine, science etc when and how human started leveraging?
Cook Rice - This is one of the most staple food across the world. Good source of carbohydrates. But i wonder when and how we started cooking and eating rice. How this process is evolved ? We have a reference if Rice as a crop in 8,200–13,500 years around Pearl river valley, China. refer
Bread - Bread is a food and that is consumed across the world in different form. Clear evidence of bread is found in Turkey and Europe around 9100 years before.
Tea - We drink and enjoy tea age old. Across the globe this drink gain hearts of millions. But this plant was originated from China around 2737 BC. British was an avid tea drinker and as a part of the British colonies tea gains its popularity across the world.
Warm water - This has a variety of usage from food to medicine to science to usage in daily life. What make me awe is since when we started using this ? Must be after exploring fire. Initial web search is pointing that this also started from China.
Spices - This world is full of spice and we observe that the warm countries use more spice than colder countries. Spice was key reason that drove the business and make people cross the seas and explore new country. The variety usage of spice makes this definitely one of the break through among others.
Cook vs uncooked food - There are numerous variety under this category. While i understand that human spends millions of years eating uncooked food till around 1 million years ago we found the usage of fire ashes in Mya, so cooked food must surfaced around that time.
Edible fruits - How we we know which fruits are edible vs which are poisonous ? How the information passed around the world of the edible fruit and poisonous fruit ? I cant find the answer in web search 😕 so i leave this just as a food for thought 😀.
Meat - I think during initial evolution all humans were non vegetarian. Later the social , religion , conscious , health made them vegetarian, vegan etc . So my understanding is human knew the usage of meat while learning "survival of the fittest" .
Baked food - this is a complex food and requires full cooking methods and more mature techniques of temperature control. Looks that Egyptians shows the first evidence of bread making around 600 BC.
- pasta, oil, wine, fish, dessert, alcoholic beverages vs non alcoholic beverages, soups etc .
Comments
Post a Comment