<story><title>Darwinian Gastronomy: Why We Use Spices (1999)</title><url>https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/49/6/453/229475</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>le-mark</author><text>It’s interesting to read this. I grew up eating a pretty limited diet in retrospect. The seasoning was salt and black pepper mostly. The first time I tried Indian food I was about 30 years old. I’ll never forget it. My mouth exploded with the flavor and a glow spread over me. It’s not that it was spicy as in hot, it was simply remarkable. I’ve often thought since that I must have been missing some sort of basic nutrient in the food that my body was deprived of. It was a very strong feeling.</text></comment>
<story><title>Darwinian Gastronomy: Why We Use Spices (1999)</title><url>https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/49/6/453/229475</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>jongjong</author><text>I think there is a lot of truth to it but it&amp;#x27;s imperfect because too much of a good thing can become poison. For example, sugar would have been very good for our ancestors; they could have eaten as much of it as they could possibly find and it would have helped them to survive... But now with technology, we have access to quantities of sugar which would have been unfathomable to our ancestors; so this good thing turned into a bad thing due to its abundance and unnaturally low cost made possible by technology.&lt;p&gt;Bitterness is bad for us because it often signals the presence of poison. Spices are good because they help to preserve certain foods and prevent or slow bacteria growth (especially in hot climates were bacteria normally thrive; no coincidence that hot countries use a lot of spice). Slight acidity in flavor is good for the same reason. Our need for diversity of flavors is good because it encourages us to consume a broad range of essential nutrients without having to think too much. Protein is satisfying to eat because our bodies need it.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s quite obvious if you think about it that our tastes are actually very well calibrated. The only flaws are that we tend to abuse good things... But even then, most of us will feel disgust after consuming too much of a good thing. Some of us are more fine-tuned than others on the abuse side of the equation.&lt;p&gt;I think that being overly neurotic about eating only &amp;#x27;healthy foods&amp;#x27; even when they don&amp;#x27;t taste good is misguided. As Leslie Orgel pointed out &amp;quot;Evolution is cleverer than you are.&amp;quot;</text></comment>