Re comment:- "> Yes, good point--domesticated dogs may have altered tastes due to years of
> eating modern foods--but I figure that they are more objective subjects than
> humans. Puppies who are just starting to eat meat would be the best test
> among domesticated dogs.":-

 

Not necessarily. It's been shown that infants in the womb can develop a taste for the same foods their mothers were eating during pregancy:-

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1098969.stm

 

Re calories comment:- There again, I heavily disagree. I've read that the only reason why cooked food seems, on the surface, to have more calories than raw, is solely due to the fact that water-content is higher in raw food than cooked-food.

 

Geoff

 








 
> Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2009 19:42:22 -0400
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Early cooking
> To: [log in to unmask]
> 
> Wally wrote: <<... Obviously the best test would be using wild dogs or
> wolves, but that would not be practical for most of us. >>
> 
> Yes, good point--domesticated dogs may have altered tastes due to years of
> eating modern foods--but I figure that they are more objective subjects than
> humans. Puppies who are just starting to eat meat would be the best test
> among domesticated dogs.
> 
> <<(However, it should be noted that wolves - and bears - often raid garbage
> cans containing all kinds of cooked and junk foods. ...>>
> 
> Yes, I know wild animals love modern foods and would often eat themselves to
> death if foods like pancakes were easily available in the wild. I've seen a
> dog inhale a pancake faster than the eye can see. It's suggestive that
> cooked meat might be preferred to raw, though not conclusive. However, from
> what has been reported here so far it is looking like dogs may prefer cooked
> meat. If accurate, it's suggestive that taste and beta-carboline addiction
> may have been a big factor in the development of cooking by humans--though
> probably not to the degree that most scientists assume (because raw meat and
> organs taste much better, when you are used to it, than most people realize). 
> 
> Also, cooked foods deliver more calories than raw, so early humans may have
> consciously started doing more cooking as food (and therefore calories)
> became scarcer.
> 
> I see that beta-carbolines are also found in plants:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta-carboline. I'll bet cooking increases the
> levels in plants too.
> 
> <<... in the interest of "science", I will test each dog with some cooked
> beef and raw beef and report back any tendencies.>>
> 
> Thanks a million. I love it when science is put into action--as long as no
> harm is done, of course.

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