The beginning of food…

I think about this a lot while I am frantically rushing thru my kitchen at work (don’t really know why)

Which genius caveman decided to cook a tyrannosaurus rex or pterodactyl ? Put it on the fire and burn the meat to a crisp on the outside and still stone cold inside (I am just assuming this, as they would not of known how to on their first attempt) Would he of had a wife napping at his ear to say “Is it almost ready yet “or “hurry up the cave kids are starving”…Just think of the pressure this poor soul would have been under to cook for the whole tribe, once they heard that he or she were the only one who could “cook”. Welcome to a chef’s life, my poor caveman…

Just take a minute to simmer on what a monumental step this is in the development of us as humans today. There is no exact date on when “chef caveman” first cooked items but it was roughly estimated about 1.9 million years ago. And found that there was a drastic decrease in molar size as well as jaw size. Thus adapting to the softer meat with less connective tissue. Their stomachs would have had to contain a lot more acid than ours do now, so as to kill off all bacteria in the uncooked meat, so their stomachs would have had to be considerably larger.

Could this of been the start of entertaining guests? Family social bonding? The start of secret family recipes that would be handed down to their offspring and offspring to come? The start of different cooking methods and doneness of meat? (There would always be one person wanting meat well done, sad)

I think we owe a lot more to “chef caveman” than just cooked meat and veggies …. don’t you? Or was it done by pure accident? Did someone clumsily drop the stegosaurus’s perfectly trimmed and butcher tide tenderloin on the tribe’s campfire? Can you imagine the abuse he or she would of got for ruining a perfect Stego fillet? Until they tasted it, true case of zero to hero if you ask me. How far we have come in 1.9 million years, with molecular gastronomy and fine dinning. Who knows what’s waiting for us around the culinary corner?

Well done “Executive caveman chef”. You have given me an occupation I love and brought many families together at dinnertime.