Becky Root <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>As the one who brought up the pumpkin question, I'm please to hear that
they
>are a fruit.  But as a newcomer to paleo eating, I'm curious as to why the
>question of Old World/New World even comes up. Isn't it the case that homo
>sapiens sapiens existed in the Americas during the paleolithic era, and
that
>they too were hunter gatherers? If so, why would it matter whether a food
>item was from one area versus the other. Isn't the end of the Ice Age too
>recent for significant evolutionary changes that would make us need to eat
>the food native to our ancestral homeland?  Speaking with the full freedom
>of ignorance, I'd think it would be more relevant to wonder whether the
food
>existed at all during the paleo period. Thanks for any help on these
questions.
>I'm trying to read all I can to catch up, but there's a lot to learn!
>
>FWIW, I baked the pumpkin mixed with pureed apple, a couple of eggs,
>and cinnamon,
>nutmeg and clove. It was great.


Actually, people only first came to the Americas around 20,000 years ago.
Plants had evolved for millions of years in the Americas, separately from
plants eaten by humans in Europe, Austral-Asia, and Africa. 20,000 years
is not very long by evolutionary standards. Moreover, those of us with no
Native American ancestors have no chance of having specific evolved
adapations to foods from here.

There is a big difference between fruits and vegetables as far as the
Paleodiet is concerned. Plants (vegetable matter) and especially their
seeds often have defenses against being eaten. We have evolved some
ability to eat plants despite this (we can eat things like mint leaves and
spinach, etc). Through cooking and other processing people have learned to
eat other plants and seeds previously inedible (e.g. potatoes, beans,
grains, etc). Many fruits (but not all) do not require such processing
because they coevolved symbiotically with mammals - the plant "wants" you
to eat its fruit. Fruits from the Americas are a gray area because, though
they may have evolved to be eaten by mammals, humans have little
evolutionary experience with them.

Personally, I eat fruits from the Americas, but I'm more cautious about
them. For instance, I eat tomatoes, but I make sure that they're fully
ripened (lower glycoalkaloid content). It's nice to know that pumpkins
existed in Europe - at least we evolved with the cousins of modern
pumpkins.

Ray