For those who do not read the Paleodiet Symposium, the following URL was recently posted on the use of fire for cooking plant foods: http://cnn.com/HEALTH/diet.fitness/9908/11/science.cooking.reut/ If the scientists discussed in the article are correct, the use of fire for cooking goes back almost 2 million years. If this is correct, then it has profound implications for those of us who are interested in emulating paleolithic diets, since it means that the "naked with a sharp stick" principle must be abandoned in favor of the "stone, spear, and fire" rule. This adds many foods to the menu, especially foods that can be roasted without a lot of other processing involved. 1.9 million years is a long time. Furthermore, if the use of fire was not universal, can anyone doubt that those who had it enjoyed a tremendous advantage during the Ice Ages? Todd Moody [log in to unmask]