> >  1. Outside food, humans do many things that are "unnatural",
> > including wearing clothes, heating or using air conditioners, using
> > cars, sending e-mails.

Carol:
> That's true, but what is the point of saying it?  Are you saying
> that these other unnatural things are all OK and that, therefore,
> cooking must be OK too?

Not exactly. My point was that, since some unnatural things are OK,
the unnaturalness of cooking doesn't guarantee that it is harmful.

> Our biochemistry has had a lot more time to get to know the natural
> ones.

Except that most of human evolution occurred somewhere in Africa, and
many plants we currently eat originate from Europe, Asia or America.

> The difference between adapting to some cooked food and developing
> a need for some cooked food is a HUGE one, don't you think?

Sure. I just said it was a possibility. It is known that cooking
destroys some anti-nutrients. Suppose that in the past, humans were able to
neutralize them (by some detoxification pathway), but that they have
lost that ability, due to a long habit of cooking? Who knows?

> Are you saying that some, perhaps many, foods found in our stores
> have been bred in such a way that they are now more nutritious cooked
> than they are raw?

Not really. I was saying that, if foods A and B are nutritionally
equivalent, A being easy to cultivate but inedible raw, and B having
little commercial qualities but being edible raw, then we are more
likely to find A in our groceries.

> > In many areas of the world, human life would be impossible or
> > very difficult without cooking, because not enough plants are
> > edible raw...
>
> What areas of the world are we talking about here?  (I just wanna
> make sure they're not on my "places to go on vacation" list. :D)

I realize I wasn't precise enough. I should have said

"In many areas of the world, human life would be impossible or very
difficult without TECHNOLOGY (including cooking)".

Of course, you can live on raw food in the US or in Europe :-) Now, if
you were naked in the Australian bush, it would be harder (even if you
were willing and able to kill animals).


--Jean-Louis Tu <[log in to unmask]>


P.S. I think I accidently sent a response while in the midst of typing
it. Sorry about that.