Cook, Taste, Learn, by Guy Crosby (preface)

Cook, Taste, Learn How the Evolution of Science Transformed the Art of Cooking

Guy Crosby

Preface

It’s pretty amazing when you think about it: of all the living species on earth, only humans cook their food! Cooking has played a very important role in the evolution of humans, but only in the last few decades has the public shown much interest in the science of what happens to food when we cook it by applying heat. What is it about cooking food that has been so important in the evolution of humans? Why have humans evolved biologically and socially so much faster than all other living species? What role, if any, has cooking played?

Plenty, if you ask Richard Wrangham, professor of biological anthropology at Harvard University. Wrangham makes a compelling case for the role of cooking in his popular book Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human. He is not the first to argue that cooking influenced human evolution, but he is the first to claim that early humans began using fire to cook food as early as 1.8 to 1.9 million years ago. Others believe that physical evidence found in caves indicates fire was first used for cooking about 400,000 years ago.

Wrangham finds that the evolutionary evidence of one of our earliest ancestors, Homo erectus—including the increasing size of the brain and the decreasing size of the teeth and gastrointestinal system—strongly supports the conclusion that the use of fire to cook food began more than a million years earlier. Cooking clearly played an extremely important role in human evolution. Through knowledge of cooking science, we can understand why cooking was so fundamental to the evolution of humans. Throughout this book, I will explore the evolution of science and how it has transformed the art of cooking right up to the present.

Unfortunately, science is a mystery to many people. Its complex language is composed of strange words that make it difficult to understand, inviting suspicion or lack of interest.

Yet science is a proven method for questioning and learning how the world works. It leads

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to new insights and the creation of new ideas, knowledge, and innovations. Through carefully designed studies, hypotheses of why certain things happen can be tested and affirmed or disproved, following the scientific method of cooking, tasting, and learning. Consider, for example, the theory of gravity (Newton), proof of the concept of atoms (Dalton), the invention of the electric lightbulb (Edison), the development of a polio vaccine (Salk), the design of the electronic transistor (Bardeen, Brattain, and Shockley), and the answer to why the chicken crossed the road (Henny Penny). Some people are suspicious that science can be used for negative purposes such as the development of atomic weapons, the creation of genetically modified organisms, or electronic surveillance. And, of course, in the hands of dishonest, politically or financially motivated people, it can. But on the whole, science has had a very positive impact on the evolution of humankind. Despite the long history of scientific thought, beginning with the ancient Egyptians and early Greek philosophers, the science of cooking has received little attention until very recently. The science of cooking may seem to be of minor importance, but if Wrangham is correct, it may be one of the most consequential and least appreciated of all the sciences.

The famous American sociologist Robert K. Merton (1910–2003, Columbia University) once wrote, “Science is public, not private, knowledge.” That’s wonderful for those who understand the science. But most science communication is perceived as pure gibberish.

For some, it can be more opaque than even private knowledge. As a scientist, I feel it is essential to interpret science for the public so it can truly become public knowledge appreciated and understood by all. To explain the science of cooking, I have included a series of short essays on the cream-colored pages that delve deeper into the science considered in each chapter, as well as a small number of my favorite recipes illustrating that science. It is my hope that the growing interest in these topics will lead to a greater appreciation and understanding of science and our world.

I close this brief preface with my favorite lines of poetry: To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour.

These are the opening lines to “Auguries of Innocence” by William Blake (1757–1827), assumed to have been written in 1803 but not published until 60 years later. I first heard

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these lines spoken by Jacob Bronowski (1908–1974) in 1973 during his very successful BBC television documentary series The Ascent of Man. I have cherished them ever since. For me, these lines eloquently express the concept of the atom and the structure of matter built upon atoms. Yet, incredibly, the first precise proof of the modern concept of atomic theory was not published until 1805 by John Dalton, a Quaker schoolmaster in Manchester, England—2 years after Blake wrote his poem. How could Blake have imagined that grains of sand and wildflowers are composed of infinitesimally small molecular structures composed of even smaller atoms before the existence of the atom was proved? The answer will become apparent later in this book. The history of science and our understanding of the world are fascinating. I hope you find some of the same fascination and joy in the science of cooking that follows.

Praise for COOK, TAS TE, L E A R N “Cook, Taste, Learn entertains with a smorgasbord of curious facts, delightful explanations, and fun recipes. What is so special about olive oil? Why use one kind of potato for baking and another for boiling? How does one make scrambled eggs fluffy? Guy Crosby’s history of cooking provides a riveting education for your inner chef.”

—RICHARD WRANGHAM, author of Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human “Cook, Taste, Learn elegantly intertwines history, chemistry, anthropology, and culinary science to create a captivating guided tour through the arc of human invention.

The general scientific advancements feel just as vital to our enjoyment of good food as the evolution of cooking science. An accessible and inspiring contribution to the history of science!”

—ALI BOUZARI, author of Ingredient: Unveiling the Essential Elements of Food ARTS AND TRADITIONS OF THE TABLE: PERSPECTIVES ON CULINARY HISTORY

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