Subscribe now

Log in

Your login is case sensitive

I have forgotten my password


Short Sharp Science: A New Scientist blog

Did home cooking make us human?

Peter Aldhous, San Francisco bureau chief

Primatologist Richard Wrangham of Harvard University is at the AAAS meeting promoting his provocative idea: that a switch to cooked food, which occurred with the emergence of Homo erectus around 1.8 million years ago, was a pivotal event in human evolution, leading to bigger brains, smaller teeth and reduced gut size.

Last year Wrangham showed that modern apes have an innate preference for cooked food, arguing that our ancestors would have behaved in exactly the same way. Anthropologists weren't entirely convinced that this was a clinching argument, but Wrangham is now back with more evidence to bolster his case.

His latest work documents the energetic benefits obtained by cooking, which softens foods by breaking down hard-to-digest starch and proteins. "Softness is energy," he told reporters at the AAAS.

Still, the sceptics may take some convincing. The problem is finding archaeological evidence to link the use of fire with the anatomical changes that Wrangham attributes to the adoption of cooking: while remains of charcoal can be seen as far back as 250,000 years ago, claims to have uncovered earlier evidence are controversial.

Wrangham is adamant that contemporary evidence supports his theory, however. "Cooking is the signature feature of the human diet," he says. "The cooked evening meal is universal for hunter-gatherers."


Facebook iconDigg iconDelicious iconStumbleUpon iconTwitter iconTechnorati iconReddit iconAddThis icon
Subscribe to New Scientist Magazine


I think most animals prefer cooked food - not just apes because its somewhat predigested in the heat. But cooked food is not necessarily more healthy just as candy (predigested carbohydrates) is not better for health than bread.

But a couple of million years - or even a few thousand years is a long time for evolution to make its mark.



Who sez?? I believe the availability of game, berries, or roots was quite random -- so any conjecture about daily food habits is just conjecture.


My dog would rather have cooked food. I don't think it has anything to do with being soft, the creature still chews rolled up and dried hide from choice. I think that it is the smell and the flavours that are released. If I out uncooked bacon or sausages on a plate in the kitchen he doesn't take any notice. As soon as I start cooking them and the smell fills the kitchen, he becomes my very best friend.


Huh, and all this time, I thought it was beer!

Cooking also makes things safer to eat. We think of the nutrients that heat destroys but it breaks down things and actually helps you get more from the food.

Also, I have a pet idea that alcohol helps extract more nutrients from food, when consumed with foods, and especially the beneficial coloring agents from fruit. Thought of that because during wine making, it is not until some alcohol is produced that the color from the grape skins starts to be extracted into the liquid... otherwise it is trapped in the grape skins. So I'm half serious about the effects of wine and beer on diet and therefore upon human evolution.

Wine also helps prevent some food pathogens from getting you. ("Have a little wine for your stomach's sake," Peter's advice to Timothy (? did I remember that right?) And, if I may continue, vinegar (wine gone bad due to bacterial infection) may also help get more nutrients from leafy greens.

So it's the whole of a 'civilized' diet, made possible by a brain that can plan and organize. Yes?


I have to wonder how he handles the "Chicken/Egg" problem with his argument:

We got smarter because we cooked, but how'd we get smart enough to cook on a regular basis (not some one-up accidental chicken or egg found after a forest fire!), in the first place?


Allen, good point, but I don't think it would have to be as extreme as holding a bunny when lightning struck and then getting the munchies...pre-humans may very well have used fire to ward of other animals - huddling around a blaze - for quite a long epoch before getting into the habit of roasting a few tough nuts or unripe fruits and then getting the bigger better idea of coq au vin. You can practically SEE the poor little brow beaters putting their bounty on a flat rock before the safety blaze and little by little eating the warmed chow...with the least desirable pieces being taken up last. Someone would have realized that heating increases quality and usable yield. Then more nutrients, more thoughts, and then baked Alaska. Pretty obvious, really.


No-one here has mentioned that cooking provides another benefit for health and hence survival. It kills pathogens such as parasites and bacteria. This in itself is a massive boost, without the benefits of more nutritious and more easily digestible food. Cooking may also have helped survival by assisting in food remaining edible for longer, if only for a few days to a week.


Isn't that the reason that there was a big don't eat red meat because it stays so longs in ya's gut's. Or possibly I could be miss remembering. Anyway I thought I was having De Ja Vu. Good day.


Being cooking enthusiasts, I thought you might be interested in an online discussion about how cooking made us human. It starts tomorrow (Friday the 26th.) Maybe you've heard of the book Catching Fire, by Richard Wrangham. Wrangham argues that we humans are who we are because we learned to cook-- that cooking was the key factor that spurred our evolution.
Tomorrow, Wrangham will be on The World Science Podcast and then he will be online to discuss his ideas with anybody who wants to chat through digital camera. He'll check in throughout the week, til July 3. Just about anything is fair game-- your own take on food and evolution, your questions, your experience with raw vs. cooked food, your favorite zebra recipes :)




Thanks for the post, good stuff!


Thank you for a great post


I came across this web log a couple of days in the past however totally forgot to bookmark it - I will not make the similar fault again - it will go right in my personal favourites.


what a wonderful way to start blogging


Speaking as a chef I do have a preference to uncooked food such as sushi and shashimi and eat my steak blue as I think it is the purest flavour but you do have to be careful what foods you try this with.


Hi again,,, gosh look at all those comments you've got... Some of them are a bit odd though.


When next I read a blog article, I hope that it does not let me down as much as this one did. I mean, I know it was my choice to read it, but somehow I actually thought that you'd have something well considered to say. All I saw is a bunch of moaning about something that you could resolve if you werent too preoccupiedseeking attention.


Hi there, I used to be trying to find Short Sharp Science: Did home cooking make us human? while i located your websites. Knowledge for sharing this excellent data. Thanks!


Those women who didnt become men anyway

Twitter Follow us
Twitter updates
Recent comments


Your login is case sensitive

I have forgotten my password


© Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.