Get down to business! New non-fiction books: how man made his way to the top of the food chain

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A shrimp and avocado cocktail as an appetizer, battered fillets as a main course, and flambéed pineapple slices with vanilla ice cream for dessert, it was a homemade feast when I was a kid. In the 1970s, the worm-like sea creature and the green butterfruit were still exciting exotics. And for dessert, mom can bring her flawless copper saucepan to the fire ride.

“The kitchen needs two things: a source of heat and equipment with which to cut and cook,” writes German writer Uta Seeburg (42) in her recently published entertaining book in which she takes us through “50 dishes through history.” humanity.” He shows how a man, “this unpromising creature”, makes his way to the top of the food chain.

Because at first, the guys fearfully squat in the bushes and wait until the last predator leaves the carcass. Now they can bite into gnawed bones, split them with a hand ax and swallow marrow – no animal can do this. “These people are turning into extremely successful hunters whose carefree predatory attitude is likely responsible for the extinction of species of mammoths, deer, elk and giant sloths,” says Seaburg.

First comes meat, then bread: only after people have devoted themselves to hunting and gathering, like nomads, do they settle down and devote themselves to agriculture. This proves to be a competitive advantage over the predators it competes with for meat. Seaburg: “He focuses on foods like cereals that are inedible raw and must be processed before you can create something edible out of them.”

In the Neolithic era, he was more or less successful: “The bread is ready, cakes, cakes.” And this is after the painstaking processing of grain and its collection. “So, after about thirty-five years on this earth, a person sinks into the grave,” the author writes. “He worked hard all his life and didn’t eat very well.” And yet it is the beginning of everything we are today.

From one of the first written recipes from Babylon to the invention of sauce in France around 1651 and molecular gastronomy in Spain around 1995, Seeburg covers his story arc. And towards the end, we go to Noma in the Danish capital Copenhagen, in the temple of gourmet chef René Redzepi (45), who was recognized five times as the best restaurant in the world in the 21st century.

“After molecular gastronomy has deconstructed and emasculated food, always with the aim of transcending nature,” writes Seeburg, “Redzepi’s cuisine takes the opposite position: it elevates the individual product, it celebrates the leek, it elevates the grass from the meadow to a cult.” .” Back to the roots – here is Redzepi’s recipe.

Source: Blick