Cook your food before you eat it

Posted on Aug 24, 2020

The invention of cooking gave a way for humans to put effort in up front to turn tough, hard-to-eat foods into something they could more easily digest.

About 30,000 years ago, “earth ovens” were developed in central Europe. These were large pits dug in the ground and lined with stones. The pits were filled with hot coals and ashes to heat the stones; food, presumably wrapped in leaves, was placed on top of the ashes; everything was covered with earth; and the food was allowed to roast very slowly. The bones of many types of animals, including large mammoths, have been found in and around ancient earth ovens. This was clearly an improvement over rapidly roasting meat by fire, as slow cooking gives time for the collagen in tough connective tissue to break down to gelatin; this process takes at least several hours, and often much longer, depending on the age of the animal and where the meat comes from in the animal. The shoulders and hindquarters of animals are involved in more muscular action and thus contain more connective tissue than the tenderloin near the ribs. Breaking down tough connective tissue makes the meat easier to chew and digest.

Cook, Taste, Learn: How the Evolution of Science Transformed the Art of Cooking by Guy Crosby

Information is just like food. In the same way that you wouldn’t serve people raw meat, don’t just provide people raw information. Put the effort in up front and allow people to digest even the tough gristly bits. These efforts will compound the more people you share with.