Nosotros, los cocinívoros

A través del blog Speaking in silver, llego a la transcripción de un artículo sobre las ideas de del antropólogo Richard W. Wrangham, en el que se afirman cosas tan suculentas (perdón por la broma fácil) como ésta:

"Chimpanzees will seek seeds that have been cooked in bush fires and thus tenderized to eat, Wrangham said, but they never developed the skills to make fire and control it to cook food. What this means, he explained, is that chimpanzees and all other apes, as well, spend 5 to 6 hours a day chewing and eating because raw foods take longer to eat and digest. Humans, on the other hand, take an hour to eat a day's worth of food, which is a 2,000-calorie diet.

As early humans developed the ability to cook foods, which could have been anywhere from 300,000 to 1.9 million years ago, human physiology began to evolve. Humans began to have smaller mouths and jaws and shorter digestive systems than apes. "We are the cookivore," Wrangham observed, because now humans must consume softer foods, low-bulk and high-energy diets. "We have more energy, but less digestive ability," he continued."

Pues eso, que hemos llegado a ser lo que somos porque inventamos descubrimos el fuego y pudimos cocinar nuestros alimenos. Somos los "cookivore" (cocinívoros, supongo).

Una entrevista a Wrangham en la que habla con más detalle de estas ideas, aquí, una delicia (ejem) más de las que suele proveernos Edge. Más sobre esto aquí.