Catching Fire: How cooking made us human

Question 1

What is the first argument that the author tries to convey?

Answer 1

Controlling fire & cooking meals makes us human

Question 2

Advantages of cooking food?

Answer 2

1)Increases the values of our food
2)Changed our bodies, brains, use of time & social lives
3)Made us dependent on fuel
4) Passing on more genes
5) Better survival
6) Greater competitive ability
7)Longer lives
8)Better reproductive success

Question 3

What is the second argument that the author tries to convey?

Answer 3

Eating meat makes us human
Aided in the transition from Australopithecines to Homo erectus

Question 4

Advantages of eating meat?

Answer 4

Fostered many human traits: 1) long distance travel
2) Big bodies
3) Rising intelligence
4) Increased cooperation

Question 5

What is Australopithecus ?

Question 6

What is Habilis ?

Question 7

What is Homo erectus ?

Question 8

Characteristics of Australopithecus ?

Answer 8

Non-human ape characteristics : 1) Walked up right
2) Size of a chimp
3) Climbed well
4) Ape-sized belly
5) Apelike muzzles
6) Ape-sized brain
7) Low forehead
8) Big brow-ridge
9)Massive jaw
10) Short legs
11) Long arms
12) Tool makers
13) Organized behavior

Question 9

What is the Man-The-Hunter theory?

Answer 9

Explains the change from Australopithecines to human

Question 10

What is the author’s argument about the theory?

Answer 10

Incomplete b/c it doesn’t describe how hunting was possible without the support of Gatherers, doesn’t explain the second transition of Habilines to Homo erectus

Question 11

What was the assumption of cooking by the social science divisions?

Answer 11

Cooking & fire had little biological importance, assumption that cooking was a late addition to the human skill set, & to separate ourselves from animals

Question 12

Advantages of cooking?

Answer 12

1)Makes our food safer
2) Creates rich and delicious tastes
3) Reduces spoilage

Question 13

Biological advantages of cooking?

Answer 13

1)Survive and reproduce better
2) Genes spread
3) Bodies biologically adapted to cooked foods
4)Changes in anatomy, physiology, ecology, society,etc

Question 14

Giessen Raw food study results?

Answer 14

Resulted in chronic energy deficiency, lack of evidence for long-term survival on raw wild foods

Question 15

Giessen Raw food study results for women and men?

Answer 15

Women-50% entirely to menstruate, reduced reproductive function
Men- decreased sexual appetite

Question 16

Advantages of meat eating?

Answer 16

1)Easier to digest
2) Promotes efficient growth
3) Smaller gut, mouth, teeth, colons

Question 17

Anatomy differences between Humans and Apes?
(Humans)

Answer 17

Humans:
1) Smaller mouths
2)Weaker jaws bc of mutation in gene responsible for producing the muscle protein myosin/MYH16
3)Soft, high caloric density foods, low fiber, high digestible foods, increase efficiency, saves us from wasting unnecessary metabolic costs on features that don’t serve our diet

Question 18

Anatomy differences between Humans and Apes?
(Apes)

Answer 18

1)Chimp mouths are 2x as large
2) Stronger jaws b/c of sagittal crest- accommodates jaw muscles

Question 19

What is the author’s cooking hypothesis?

Answer 19

Long periods of exposure to Maillard compounds could’ve made primates resistant to its damaging effects compared to other mammals

Question 20

What is the Digestive system processes?

Answer 20

1) Digestion by our own bodies. Starts through mouth-stomach-small intestine, Produce calories that are useful
2)Fermentation- By more than 400 types of bacteria & protozoa in large intestine, only a fraction of available energy

Question 21

Example of intestine digestibility ?

Answer 21

Ileal digestibility- calculation of how much energy a food provides, samples intestinal contents at the end of the small intestine

Question 22

What was the experiment on the effects of cooking?

Answer 22

1990s Belgian team of gastroenterologists tested the effects of cooking. Investigated the fate of eggs after they’ve been digested

Question 23

What were the results of the experiment?

Answer 23

1) Cooking increased the protein value of the eggs about 40%
2)Concluded that denaturation of food proteins impacted the value

Question 24

What factors promote denaturation?

Answer 24

1)Heat
2)Acidity- kills bacteria that enter with food, activates the digestive enzyme pepsin, & denatures protein
3)Sodium chloride- Increased digestibility
4) Drying- Increased digestibility

Question 25

What are the results of the effects of cooking and digestibility conducted by William Beaumont?

Answer 25

1) Tender food is completely digested at a rapid rate
2)Minutness of division