I just finished ‘Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human‘ by Richard Wrangham, which was a fascinating read. It provides an explanation of something Jean Torné has alluded to many times in the kitchen, that Cooking is intrinsically linked to our own evolution, in the past but also in the present. It explains quite a simple concept, about how eating cooked food which required less digestive energy freed up energy for growth of the brain, and led to the biological development and transformation of Mankind. This biological transformation is directly linked to the development of consciousness. Approaching cooking with this awareness reconnects us to this process. Our evolution continues, everyday, in the kitchen.
A talk given by Richard Wrangham at this years ‘Harvard Thinks Big’ is available here.
