Evolution Of Food

[Prudie]

I was wondering tonight while eating asparagus how did we find out that you can eat asparagus when it's shooting but not daffodils, that you eat carrot roots but not cabbage or rose roots, that egg white will whisk up, that flour and butter will thicken things etc etc. The list is endless. Was it trial and error? Did people die along the way finding out if things are poisonous?

[Prudie]

I know Tilly, even a basic sponge cake, ingredient quantities, method and cooking temperature are so critical, that must have been trial and error. Marmite must have come about from leaving something yeasty to go off and then tasting it!

[tonyav]

Stews must have been very popular back then.

[237SJ]

I think Marmite came about because it was the left overs from the yeast in beer making. Maybe someone stuck their finger in it and thought it tasted nice.

[humbersloop]

right then, for anyone with slack moment tonight, carrots

http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/history2.html

[Tilly2]

Why is Marmite so salty?

[tonyav]

That carrot link is only revision to me, hippy chick, studied that in year four ;-)

[tonyav]

Tilly2
Why is Marmite so salty?

To try and disguise how horrible it is, Yilly.

[humbersloop]

see "manufacture" here Tills

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmite

[Tilly2]

I enjoyed reading the carrot link. I like carrots..............and Marmite.

[237SJ]

It`s salty because the salt has to kill the yeast.

[Prudie]

Well I never knew a marmite was a french cooking pot (the one often pictured on the label)

[pixie373]

I think trial and error- the same as medicines. I expect there were lots of deaths at first, but desperation would encourage experimenting. If i had discovered marmite, i would have assumed it was to mend punctures...

[Tilly2]

Thanks for that link, sloopy.

[tonyav]

I should have know'n, a mad evil German scientist invented Marmite.

[gness]

Interesting one, Prudie....and I've wondered if food and drink tastes exactly the same to us.....what makes someone love bananas yet I can't stand them....is the taste I'm tasting the same as the taste they are tasting...x

[tonyav]

Yes, I have wondered why some people like thing that other people don't like as well, gness.

[Graham-W]

If your ancestors were starving hungry they'd try a couple of those nice red berries. If they didn't get ill or throw up the'd try a few more. If they then had a bad reaction, stop eating them. If OK then carry on.
Also, watch what other animals/birds were eating and use those.
Just watch out for those mushrooms, cactus roots and poppy juice.

[EDDIE51]

I love Marmite but if you think it is bad then try Vegamite, the Australian version, that really is terrible!

[Clanad]

So… who was the first human to stroll down a beach, discover an oyster, pop it open and think "I'll just pop this in my mouth"?

[EDDIE51]

^^ Don't know Clanad but it happened millions of years ago.
I think most foodstuffs started to be eaten because people saw what animals eat and just picked the same things.