The Cooking Ape, by far, is my favorite passage that we have read from the Carolina Reader this semester. After reading the introduction however, I would certainly not have expected this. A man who studies monkeys and cooking?! What does that have to do with anything at all? I was skeptic of the interview's validity and value, it sounded downright ridiculous that there could possibly be any link between the two. This was my reaction before I read Wrangham's responses to Elisabeth Townsend's questions.
Wrangham first captured my interest by listing how much cooked food varies from raw food, which lowered my skepticism immediately. In his first empirical example, he cites the size difference between gorillas and apes, then later on in his answers, relates the same size difference between humans and primates to cooking of food. He explains how the greater caloric intake allows our bodies to expand in size, compared to our primate relatives or early ancestors. He also cites the complexity of our organs and their size expansion to the greater energy intake, thanks to cooked food. Our brains are bigger because of the increased energy intake. On the other hand, our guts are smaller because they do not need to digest raw, tough fiber foods. Our digestive system is mechanically designed for cooked food, instead of having dentures designed for ripping and tearing like other meat-eating mammals, we have smaller, duller teeth, perfect for grinding up tenderized meat. Wrangham explains if we had been meat-eaters, it would take us days to digest meat (like animals) if we did not cook our food.
Another logical connection exists between cooking and the human social structure, that is still existent today. Cooking explains why males depend of their female counterpart to feed them. Because of cooking, the male protects the female's food supply while she cooks it, and in return, she provides him with food. This social pattern can be traced to our early ancestors, and to the modern Mr. and Mrs. Smith household today. The only explanation for such a social pattern is the process of cooking.
Wrangham makes several explanatory evolutionary claims through out Townsend's interview of about his studies and beliefs. At first glance, his theories, and even field of study, may seem ridiculous. However, the further Wrangham explains the scientific, physical, and logical ties of the history of cooking and evolution of the human today, the more he convinces his audience. I am now convinced that cooking our food gave the human population the physical bodies and social interactions that we have today.
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