Here is the original research paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-023-05517-3
And this is just a "External Fermentation Hypothesis"
Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth
21–30 of 226 posts
Re: Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
That really depends on the country. Some yogurts are very much dead where as in Switzerland they must be alive . Same thing with so many other items.
I keep hearing about this "dead" yogurt. What does this mean?
They make the yoghurt, then pasteurise it (I guess so it has a longer shelf life). So it tastes roughly like yoghurt but doesn't have any of the good bacteria. I've also seen that sometimes lactobacteria are then artificially added back in so that they are present but in a controlled way.
Re: Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
That really depends on the country. Some yogurts are very much dead where as in Switzerland they must be alive . Same thing with so many other items.
I keep hearing about this "dead" yogurt. What does this mean?
Heat treating / pasteurizing the yogurt after making it, kills the bacteria in it. Now the yogurt is "dead". Actually it is the bacteria that are now dead.
Re: Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
That really depends on the country. Some yogurts are very much dead where as in Switzerland they must be alive . Same thing with so many other items.
I keep hearing about this "dead" yogurt. What does this mean?
It refers to whether the yogurt is alive or dead. It's not exactly mysterious terminology.
You get yogurt by using bacteria to process milk. In order to do their processing, the bacteria need to be alive. So, for example, adding living yogurt to milk will get you more yogurt, but adding dead yogurt to milk will get you milk with some dead yogurt in it.
Re: Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth
#25In Vino Veritas
https://slova.org.ru/blok/neznakomka/
Re: Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
That really depends on the country. Some yogurts are very much dead where as in Switzerland they must be alive . Same thing with so many other items.
I keep hearing about this "dead" yogurt. What does this mean?
For maximum benefit, the bacterial culture that transformed the milk into yogurt should still be active/living.
Re: Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Potatoes are native to the Americas https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato But there are other starches too.
When it comes to the "Columbian Exchange" [0] there are quite a lot of animals and plants the people today will (wrongly) assume have existed somewhere since antiquity. (Italian tomatoes, Irish potatoes, wild horses in the American midwest, etc.) [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbian_exchange
Bigger than any of those would be chilis. Peanuts are pretty significant too. Maize is hugely significant, but fairly likely to be recognized as American.
Just think what the world could have been like if not for the environmental devastation of the 16th century. ;D
Re: Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth
#28I wish the article lingered a bit more on how people might've been fermenting foods in the past as well as exploring what fermentable food options were available. It would be interesting to run some experiments storing various foods in different ecosystems over long periods of time. How falsifiable is their hypothesis? This would've been mostly in the African continent, right? I'd imagine it would be hard to get cons…
The excellent book On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen (Harold McGee) has sections on major food groups, along with some incredible stories of how those foods have been preserved in the past — many of which involve some sort of fermentation. I recall one story about birds being encased inside a dead seal, which was then buried for a time (looking that up now, I think it's Inuit 'kiviak'). It's a…
I must be missing something. That sounds like encasing some rapidly rotting meat inside more rotting meat. A significantly less appealing turducken.
It would take some strong convictions to turn multiple meals now (seal + bird) into a future meal that could potentially be stolen by scavengers.
Re: Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth
#29This is a conjecture, not a study. Sorry if that seems to be nitpicking, but I see too many "studies" like this. A study is supposed to report the truth of something that the author studied. But this is an idea that the author liked and explored, and then wrote up. Maybe we can keep calling these studies, and come up with another term for fact based studies. And not "theory" please, that word in a scientific context…
That is not at all how science works. Outside of Mathematics, there is no such thing as Truth, only conjectures of varying certainties.
Also, research journals are really just fancy forum boards where researchers in a particular fields talk to each other, and even occasionally shit talk. They aren't ever supposed to be a source of truth, and in fact the first thing we learnt as grad student is how to critically read a research journal article and try to poke holes in the study. We are supposed to assume that the articles are wrong, until we can be convinced that they are likely to be correct.
Sometimes I think Google Scholars is a mistake. The general public aren't supposed to be exposed to research literature.
Re: Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
The excellent book On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen (Harold McGee) has sections on major food groups, along with some incredible stories of how those foods have been preserved in the past — many of which involve some sort of fermentation. I recall one story about birds being encased inside a dead seal, which was then buried for a time (looking that up now, I think it's Inuit 'kiviak'). It's a…
I must be missing something. That sounds like encasing some rapidly rotting meat inside more rotting meat. A significantly less appealing turducken. It would take some strong convictions to turn multiple meals now (seal + bird) into a future meal that could potentially be stolen by scavengers.
From wikipedia:
Up to 500 whole auks are packed into the seal skin, beaks and feathers included. As much air as possible is removed from the seal skin before it is sewn up and sealed with seal fat, which repels flies. It is then hidden in a heap of stones, with a large rock placed on top to keep the air out. Over the course of three months, the birds ferment, and are then eaten during the Arctic winter, particularly on birthdays and weddings.