Food & Drink » New Orleans Food News

Evolving tastes


"It was known that chimps prefer cooked food, but it was an open question whether chimps had the patience to wait through the pretend 'shake and bake' process. And, the researchers wanted to know if the animals could understand 'that when something raw goes in there it comes out cooked.'"

From a New York Times story about the work of scientists Felix Warneken and Alexandra G. Rosati, whose research showed chimpanzees would "cook" (the improvised process didn't include fire, which chimps haven't mastered) food rather than eat it raw if given a method. Humans are believed to have begun cooking food one to two million years ago.

Add a comment