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Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth

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Re: Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth

#51

Post by TheCapeGreek »

Terr_ wrote: post #13
ScoobleDoodle wrote: post #6

Earlier 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

Related: A great read on the history citrus and Italy is The Land where Lemons Grow. It's kind of a travel book in some ways.

Re: Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth

#52

Post by wirrbel »

aszantu wrote: post #40

reminds me of high meat recently learned that you need nitric oxide, and when you don't eat veggies, you can still get it from salami, which is fermented meat. Also trying to make garum these days, will take half a year until it's done though.

If you are referring to sodium nitrite which is used (as part of curing salt) to preserve meats. Its also not terribly healthy in foods IIRC (of course its healthier to eat cured meat than to eat meat with Botulinum bacteria).

Re: Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth

#54

Post by wirrbel »

triyambakam wrote: post #4

It used to be meat, and then that was corrected to be starch (potatoes are easy to farm and store)

It must have been something that predates arable farming (sowing seeds on acres), just timeline wise humanity spread before farming became a thing.

On the other hand I don't think that this must be a one-factor kind of a game changer thing. I could totally think that two to three changes occured in the food chain (meat, starches, food preservation, improved social skills), that combined amplified each other's effect and lead to the development.

Re: Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth

#55

Post by AYBABTME »

hetspookjee wrote: post #35
lavos83 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the Netherlands it's called water and kefir. Good stuff indeed, especially during summer and basically free at the cost tapwater. No plastic packaging either! Those hipster might actually be onto something ;)

Kombucha is another one.

I nearly poisoned myself making kombucha at home, despite careful sanitizing and careful monitoring of pH and temperature. As a result I'm really not fond of casual recommendations to brew kombucha. Seems easy to mess up.

Re: Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth

#58

Post by xenonite »

taejavu wrote: post #3

From the article: "Backing up this hypothesis is the fact that humans have relatively smaller large intestines than other primates. This indicates that our ancestors were eating food that was already partly broken down by fermentation." IIRC another interpretation of the smaller large intestine is that early humans were eating more bioavailable food (i.e. meat) than other primates, which doesn't need to be broken dow…

Fermented meat would be a combination of both interpretations.. (sausages etc)

Re: Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth

#59

Post by m463 »

mvdtnz wrote: post #47

[flagged]

I'm just waiting to eat a donut and an exercise pill for a hearty breakfast.

more seriously, I don't do high-impact running, but I love minimalist (but not weird) zero drop shoes (merell/xero). I love being able to walk and be closer to grasping the ground instead of pounding it.

Re: Study puts fermented foods, not fire, as pivotal moment in human brain growth

#60

Post by dekken_ »

AYBABTME wrote: post #55
hetspookjee wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kombucha is another one.

I nearly poisoned myself making kombucha at home, despite careful sanitizing and careful monitoring of pH and temperature. As a result I'm really not fond of casual recommendations to brew kombucha. Seems easy to mess up.

Counter anecdote for neutrality, I brew Kombucha and have done for a few years, worst I've done is make vinegar, YMMV
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