Fire! Fire! Fire & food. Fire is an element that creates heat. In regards to food, that heat is used to process or cook raw food to a more edible or pleasant state which gives food more flavour and taste.
Fire is one of the key factors that gave humans a more settled lifestyle or a settler’s way of life; the ability to be more of a settler than gathers & wanderers.
The ability to use fire to our advantage is also what makes us higher animals. Early man started making fire by using pieces of flint stones together to create sparks or use sticks ideal for fire to start fire.
Fire has been in existence since the beginning of time & existence of man but what makes the history of fire particularly interesting was when man started igniting & making fire themselves. Homo Erectus is credited with been the first man to discover the use of fire which is almost 2 million years ago but man did not fully master the use of fire until over 400 years ago, now man uses fire in almost every aspect of life including cooking.
Before man started making fire themselves,man was definitely aware of fire from nature & natural occurrence around him, for example a volcano, lighting strike, & a bush or foresting catching fire naturally, these natural bush or forest burning also created a more fertile soil for plants & crops. Early man also obtained this natural fire & kept it burning for as long as possible to use to cook.
Fire also influenced human biology, assisting in providing the high quality diet which has fueled the increase in brain size through the pleistocene. Most times, cooked food provided more calories than raw food,thereby giving more energy to man to be able to think more,create more stuff to better one’s life.
Fire also helped shape early human social behaviors because cooking food required people to share space and socialize.
Fire allowed cooked food to contribute to general evolution of humans.
