It’s a special kind of magic.
Slide squishy dough into the oven and it comes out as dinner rolls. Air-fry frozen potato balls and you end up with crispy Tator Tots. Barbecue slimy-looking raw chicken on the grill and the result is sweet, sizzling drumsticks.
Yum.
These days we don’t think a lot about cooking. It’s always been there. Cooking makes food delicious, creative, and fun. It’s part of families, friends, and celebrations. We’re rewarded with roast beef, creamy mashed potatoes, and chocolate chip cookies. How about burgers, French fries, and red velvet cake? Cooking brings food into almost every aspect of modern life.
Imagine if ovens, microwaves, stovetops, and grills weren’t available. No fire, no heat, no hot coffee.
Let’s go back – way back – in time. There were no written records, no cities, no Martha Stewarts to tell people how to live. Life spans ranged from 20 to 35 years and disease, famine and violence were common.
Early humans lived in caves, simple huts, or tepees. They dressed in animal hides and survived as foragers; feared natural events like thunder storms; and believed that spirits lived everywhere in the world around them.
They ate raw meat, plants, roots, fruits, insects, and eggs.
Not quite like a drive-thru at McDonald’s, dumplings at PF Chang’s, or homemade spaghetti and meatballs.
Early humans knew about fire. There was lightning, natural wildfires, and spontaneous combustion. No one has been able to pinpoint exactly when humans figured out to make and control fire.
Did fire and cooking shape us or did we shape them?
Andrew C. Scott in Time, described fire as “one of the most important forces on Earth.” He maintained, along with scientific evidence, that the “use of fire by humans has long been considered as a defining property of intelligence, separating us from other animals.”
In other words, it wasn’t the existence of fire but the ability to make and control it that enabled early humans to evolve in ways that other animals could not.
Think about what controlled fire brought – heat, light, scaring off dangerous animals, keeping insects away, and cooking food. Scott and other scientists believed that early humans learned how to control fire well over a million years ago.
Cooking became possible with controlled fire. Food was easier to eat, tastier, and a shared experience.
Nathan Myhrvold in Britannica wrote that “cooking, the act of using heat to prepare food for consumption . . . is as old as civilization itself, and observers have perceived it as both art and science.”
Like cave paintings that evolved into art and spoken language that became writing, cooking is deeply embedded in who we are and how we experience our world. Many cultures celebrate the spirituality of cooking – the art, joy, and connections it brings.
Famous chef, restaurateur, and author, Wolfgang Puck, once said that “Cooking is like painting or writing a song. Just as there are so many notes or colors, there are only so many flavors – it’s how you combine them that sets you apart.”
Today we are millions of years from cave people huddled around a fire, roasting fresh-caught meat. The art of cooking, professional or at home, shares the same ideas. Cooking is about life – nourishing, sharing, and connecting with others. Whether it’s Great Grandma’s recipe handed down through generations, a favorite dish to cheer up a loved one, or a seven-course dinner at an elegant restaurant, it’s all about the art and joy of cooking.
Lauren McGurrin said it best in her blog, herbalandspiced, “food is one of the highest expressions of care, both for yourself and for those around you who you feed.”
It’s no surprise that many people say a prayer before dinner.
From a simple dinner at home to feasts like the Passover Seder, Thanksgiving, Chinese New Year, weddings, quinceañeras, and Bar Mitzvahs, food embodies joy, gratitude, symbolism, and connection with others. Each individual, family, and culture creates their own style – making international cooking and dining both an adventure and an art.
Tonight, when you have dinner, homemade or take-out, at the local pizzeria or in a classy restaurant, think of those Early Humans, huddled around a fire, who started it all. A million years sits on your dinner plate.
Enjoy!
