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marketrent OP t1_ixlo175 wrote

Ceren Kabukcu, 23 November 2022.

>My team’s analysis of the oldest charred food remains ever found show that jazzing up your dinner is a human habit dating back at least 70,000 years.

>Imagine ancient people sharing a meal. You would be forgiven for picturing people tearing into raw ingredients or maybe roasting meat over a fire as that is the stereotype.

>But our new study showed both Neanderthals and Homo sapiens had complex diets involving several steps of preparation, and took effort with seasoning and using plants with bitter and sharp flavours.

>This degree of culinary complexity has never been documented before for Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers.

> 

>We examined food remains from two late Paleolithic sites, which cover a span of nearly 60,000 years, to look at the diets of early hunter gatherers. Our evidence is based on fragments of prepared plant foods (think burnt pieces of bread, patties and porridge lumps) found in two caves.

>At both sites, we often found ground or pounded pulse seeds such as bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia), grass pea (Lathyrus spp) and wild pea (Pisum spp).

>The people who lived in these caves added the seeds to a mixture that was heated up with water during grinding, pounding or mashing of soaked seeds.

Antiquity, DOI 10.15184/aqy.2022.143

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DiceCubed1460 t1_ixm8nj9 wrote

TLDR:

British food is blander than prehistoric humans

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DarkestDusk t1_ixmjf9h wrote

To some of it, certainly. Though the UK does have some amazing options available if you know where to look!

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Bluffz2 t1_ixmk1ze wrote

Yes, if you know where to look you can find some great foreign food!

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EmotionalAccounting t1_ixmpccm wrote

“London has the top ten restaurants in the world”

“And what kind of food do they make?”

“French”

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Channel250 t1_ixo87ec wrote

I don't normally care for John Taffer, but that line always makes me laugh.

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seenameangreenbean t1_ixmknm9 wrote

Fish and chips with vinegar is good, other than that…..

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T_ja t1_ixmvajb wrote

I mean aren’t cottage and chicken pot pies either English or Irish? It falls under the beige food trope but it isn’t bland.

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seenameangreenbean t1_ixmvp04 wrote

Shepard’s pie too now that I think about it. And Steak and Kidney pie. The British are good at pies.

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T_ja t1_ixmwnda wrote

And various cheeses as well.

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OnlyNeverAlwaysSure t1_ixn2hjc wrote

Wait, what cheese is British?

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T_ja t1_ixn3fcd wrote

Various cheddars if I’m not mistaken

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ImReverse_Giraffe t1_ixn4bku wrote

And that sauce no one can pronounce.

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Moneia t1_ixnd62g wrote

Worcestershire, pronounced Woost'r-sheer.

And it was based on an Asian fish sauce, it starts with fermented anchovies

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SeeTreeMe t1_ixomgkw wrote

Chicken pot pies took some inspiration from English culinary styles, but it was made in the US (Dutch Pennsylvania).

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hablandochilango t1_ixozq74 wrote

Beef Wellington is one of the most delicious things I’ve ever had anywhere

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melmoth_to_a_flame t1_ixn56nh wrote

Didn't all those shops get replaced by curry shops? Not that I am complaining, just haven't visited for a long while.

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DemSocCorvid t1_ixn4x7r wrote

Yeah, all the Indian restaurants. Butter chicken is a classic British dish.

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floin t1_ixmkp3j wrote

>>if you know where to look!

Meaning the local curry take-away?

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QueenRooibos t1_ixogiyp wrote

How do we know it was for seasoning? Couldn't the plants/herbs/minerals etc. have been used for medicinal purposes such as preventing/lessening food poisoning or indigestion? Bitter herbs are especially useful for this according to old herbalist handbooks.

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Raichu7 t1_ixpvy57 wrote

The assumption that people 70,000 years ago would only eat a single type of food at a meal seems rather crazy to me. Where were they getting enough of it to feed the whole tribe? The idea that they gathered whatever meat and plants they could find and then cooked them all together makes a lot more sense.

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