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Biological anthropologist Richard Wrangham has proposed that cooking was a necessary step in human evolution, because cooking breaks down fibers and improves the bioavailability of many nutrients we don't normally extract from raw foods.
But more than that, we cooked over woodfire. And I would not be surprised at all to learn that cooking over a woodfire is engrained into our genes in a way that, say, cooking with gas or electricity is not. As we camped, we were always cooking with wood, and damn if it didn't make everything we ate taste better. Even pancakes and scrambled eggs. There was something to the smoke that was utterly wonderful.
But more than that, we cooked over woodfire. And I would not be surprised at all to learn that cooking over a woodfire is engrained into our genes in a way that, say, cooking with gas or electricity is not. As we camped, we were always cooking with wood, and damn if it didn't make everything we ate taste better. Even pancakes and scrambled eggs. There was something to the smoke that was utterly wonderful.