History of Cooking

Just when did cooking come into existence? When did our primitive ancestors learned to cook the animals they have killed from hunting? I had some good read about the history of cooking, and I learned that there is no exact period when the actual cooking was discovered, or shall I say, invented. A British primatologist in the name of Richard Wranghan, claims that it was invented 1 to 2 millions years ago, while some other researchers concluded that it was invented in the late 40,000 or 10,000 years ago.

I think it doesn't matter at all to dispute when did humans learn how to cook the food they produced. What's more important is, our ancestors invented the more preferable way of eating food instead of eating it raw and eventually discovered the art of cooking, as cooking the food prevents so many foodborne illnesses if it is eaten straight raw. In addition, it enhances the digestibility of foods when it undergoes cooking process but will lose its taste and nutrients if not cooked well.

Although cooking seems to be an advantage and favorable to our taste buds yet there are also a great disadvantages in cooking the food. When cooking vegetables and fruits that are rich in vitamins for example, the natural nutrients of the vegetables/fruits will extract into the water used in cooking, this will lower the vitamins we get from the food compared when still uncooked. Peeling the vegetables, let say potatoes, where vitamin C is mostly in the skin can considerably reduces the vitamin C content of it.

In cooking we know that many nutrients are lost. To prevent this great loss of nutrients in cooking foods, it is better to minimize the length of time the vegetables/fruits are cut. Some nutrients when exposed to air as you cut a vegetable of fruit are destroyed. Instead of boiling or frying, try steaming the vegetables to avoid destroying the fragile nutrients content of the food.

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