Book Review: Delicious: The Evolution of Flavor and How It Made Us Human. by Rob Dunn and Monica Sanchez

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"Pleasure was central to the biggest changes in our evolutionary past," "Cuisine is a major evolutionary innovation. However, it is rare in nature."

"This search for great flavors is embedded in our species' very name: homo (human) sapiens (knowing). But "sapiens" originates in a verb meaning "to taste" and later "to have discernment."

"The human who discerns through taste," confident in their belief that "we sit together and make sense of the world one bite at a time."

Source: Dunn and Sanchez



Review:
In a recent book, Delicious: The Evolution of Flavor and How It Made Us Human, Rob Dunn, and Monica Sanchez explore the origins of food preferences in humans and how they evolved over time and ultimately changed us.

The book proposes that flavor and desire for pleasure in food significantly influenced the behavior of pre-humans and early humans. For example, the quest of flavor involving processing of food may have ultimately led to enlarged brains while our jaws and teeth became smaller. At other times, the book also suggests that perhaps language itself developed around communal eating behavior based on research showing that chimpanzees yell louder when there is more/better fruit to share. 

Apart from learning a lot about the evolution of flavor, exploring the origins of food preferences in humans and how they evolved over time and ultimately changed us, I learned some interesting facts from the book, such as "cats don't taste sweet"; "elephant foot is probably the most delicious meat ever" "humans are the only animals that combine foods" and "animals will choose a food that is more "delicious" over one that is higher in calories."

Through a combination of engaging storytelling and scientific evidence, the book seems to suggest that humans may have a genetic signature for flavors that is not explained by the need for nutrition but may have driven our evolutionary development - our experimentations with food may be the source of all our cognitive and social successes.

All in all, I love food and most things food-related, including reading books that are written the importance of flavor in food. Perhaps just like us, our ancient ancestors likely spent more time and effort on their favorite foods than just pure sustenance.

Recommendation:
4 Untangled Dots: This book is an interesting read for anyone interested in the impact of food on our human evolution. At times a little dry but a thought-provoking and enjoyable book that reads like an informal discussion based on current research. I would recommend this book to lovers of popular science and those interested in understanding our evolutionary past.

Scale: 

1 Untangled Dots - Skip it
2 Untangled Dots - Skim it
3 Untangled Dots - Good - Read it 
4 Untangled Dots - Excellent - Read it, Share it
5 Untangled Dots - Fantastic - A Must Read!


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