(no subject)

[lliira]

So in the Great Food Internet Debates, which are as illuminating as most internet debates, there are two extremist camps, both alike in foolishness.

One says humans didn't evolve eating plants. We were mighty (macho) hunters always. The other says we didn't evolve eating meat. We were peaceful (girly) plant-eaters. As with all dumbass internet extremists, one side in which the dumbasses have embedded themselves can't see anything but the dumbasses on the other side. Someone needs to write a PhD thesis on this as a microcosm of the way human groups interact.

But anyway, my theory is that we were neither brave and noble hunters nor peaceful and noble gatherers. I think we were scavengers. Sneaking up and grabbing the leftover bones and cracking them open. Stealing eggs from nests. (Eggs are an utterly amazing food for humans when the birds get to live outside in the sunshine and eat bugs along with seeds.) Gleaning berries and nuts and tubers and whatnot -- obviously we can't digest the range of plants herbivores can. But we're not great at digesting fresh raw meat either. Yet nearly all cultures I've read about had some kind of rotten meat as a staple.

And look at how soft and weak we are as individuals, yet how mighty we are in large groups. Like hyenas.

Comments

[iosonochesono]

If we didn't evolve to eat meat and plants, we wouldn't have teeth as we do (molars as well as canines).

If we hadn't at some point eaten plants, we would not have vestigial appendices, which at some point probably helped us digest leaves as they do in herbivorous animals today.

If we didn't evolve to eat meat and plants, probably our closest relatives (chimpanzees and bonobos) wouldn't eat both themselves. They are over 98% similar to us and the genetic drift is somewhere in the 5 million year range.

We're also not too terrible at eating raw meat, at least, not when looking back in history. People saying that today typically are referring to people in developed nations who has had thousands of years of cooking meat. There have been cultures (and are cultures presently) that can/do eat raw meat. Not just sushi, either. We probably used to be better at digesting both plants AND animals; we've sort of been domesticating ourselves for thousands of years.

I also have a theory that I plan on trying in the future based on recent data that shows occasional fasting may actually increase longevity, plus the effectiveness in Atkins/Lindora diets that limit carbs: I think humans (at least, humans further from the equator or tropical environments) have bodies that are probably adapted largely to eating mostly meat in the winter (when crops were not in season) and eating more carbs and sugars in spring/summer months. I think part of the reason obesity is an increasing problem is because we have such wide access to these things all year round even though for most of us they were only available seasonally.)

I think we very likely, as you say, were scavengers (though it also seems likely we always engaged in hunting cooperatively since time immemorial. Chimps and bonobos hunt in groups today, and it would also explain our evolution to be able to walk incredibly long distances.) I don't understand why people take either extreme about meat/plants. If you think people should go vegan due to environmental/moral reasons, don't try to believe conspiracy theories that we're actually herbivores when no data suggests that.

[silveradept]

Humans are built as hunters and gatherers. We're just strange hunters, in that we're built for endurance rather than power. It's what makes us the scary space Orcs.