Burnt Offerings

There are so many cookery programmes on our television channels.

We can have an early breakfast, extended brunch, a conversation over lunch, mid afternoon tea , dine with friends and conclude with a supper ,all without straying too far from the sofa, apart from a dash to the kitchen to make a modest sandwich to sustain us through all of the culinary shows.

There has been a history of such programmmes and as a young child I remember the rather staid and stodgy Fanny Craddock and the hapless Johnny compared to the slick and sophisticated Galloping Gourmet who would invite a female member of his live audience to his table having cooked up some fantastic meal.

There is no denying that a cookery related broadcast on whatever theme is a guarantee of good viewing figures notwithstanding the rewards from spin-off merchandising in recipe books to chef endorsed foodstuffs and cookware not to mention road shows and appearances in celebrity media.

We are now realising through biological anthropologists and archaeological discoveries that the advent of cooking amongst our very distant ancestors constituted a revolution in the history of humans.

In the era of foraging and hunter-gathering early man survived on raw food. It was often the case that even with a relative abundance of foodstuffs our ancestors starved to death because the process of chewing and digesting raw food used up more calories than provided.

It is thought that Homo Erectus, some 2 million years ago,  was able walk upright because of his discovery that cooking food gave more energy allowing faster breeding, immunity from simple but debilitating illness and give a chance of relative longevity although still not more than 20 to 30 years of existence.

Cooking released for consumption and conversion into energy the primary starches. In raw food these were in tightly packed crystal form but when heated up the goodness in the starch opens up and becomes available as fuel.

In stark contrast to other Primates mankind have small mouths, teeth and guts. This dictates that food must be soft and this was found to be possible through cooking and the benefits of this put man on the evolutionary fast track.

It was the trigger for human development.

The cooking of food also allowed blood flow to be diverted to the brain whereas the effort to consume raw food in the gut had been a major drain. Early man therefore found extra energy, vitality and capabilities of intelligent thought.

The heating up of foodstuffs also eradicated many toxins for example in potatoes and other potential hazards.

Man could range about from an otherwise limited territory with a guarantee of being able to source and cook enough food to sustain an active lifestyle allowing the populating of continents.

From a rather pitiful and lonely existence of selfish foraging the ability to cook created the first communities in that meal times could be planned. The derivation of the word focus is in 'hearth' and cooking with fire became the focal point of social life and interaction. Man became civilised through cooking and its role in creating a cohesive society and an environment in which to communicate and collaborate.

Have we really progressed over the millions of years?