The Origins of Agriculture,
the Rise of Civilization,
and the Co-Evolution of Cuisine
Solomon H. Katz
Food is central
to all economies.
The successful
procurement and production
of food
has provided
the foundation
upon which all human
civilizations are based.
Every human society creates, perpetuates, and participates in an information system that evolves
through time to maintain a dynamic equilibrium among ecological, sociocultural, biological, and
demographic variables within the human ecosystem. The cultural information pool related to
food grows rapidly to compliment and supplement the genetic information pool. The combined
system becomes independent from biological limitations and underlies much of the success of
our species.
“Lock and Key Hypothesis”
Evolution
Biocultural Evolution
Cuisine
In humans digestion and metabolism of food routinely begins outside of our body.
This “extra somatic" or “Exodigestion” of food is governed, conditioned, shaped and
accumulated by a cultural evolutionary process which in the case of food I have called the
biocultural evolution of cuisine.
Maize (corn) productivity made the
Mesoamerican Civilizations possible.
But maize has some serious nutritional
limitations that, unless overcome,
makes its key role in civilization unlikely.
An Alkali
treatment
breaks the
Nyacitin bond
Cross Cultural
Evolutionary
Hypothesis
Testing in
Appropriate
Ecosystem
Identify
Diet and/or
Nutrient
Problem
Preparing
maize with
heat and an
Alkali
Use of wood
ashes, burned
shells, ground
slaked lime,
soda, etc.
Biochemistry
Pharmacology
Genomics
Nutritional &
other Sciences
Macro
Cultural
Evolutionary
Hypothesis
Testing
Niacin in
Maize is
Indigestibly
Bound
Specific
Behaviors &
Practices
Cultural
Adaptations &
Traditions
The Stars Refer to Use of Alkali (n=51)
An Alkali
treatment
breaks down
the bound
Niacin
Cross Cultural
Evolutionary
Hypothesis
Testing in
Appropriate
Ecosystem
Niacin in
Maize is
Indigestibly
Bound
Use of wood
ashes, burned
shells, ground
slaked lime,
soda, etc.
Preparing
maize with
heat and an
Alkali
The Circles Refer
to Societies that
Practiced Alkali
Processing.
MAYAN TORTILLA
BETWEEN
GENERATIONS IS NOT
GENETIC!
An Alkali
treatment
breaks down
the bound
Niacin
Cross Cultural
Evolutionary
Hypothesis
Testing in
Appropriate
Ecosystem
Niacin in
Maize is
Indigestibly
Bound
The Americas
Preparing
maize with
heat and an
Alkali
Use of wood
ashes, burned
shells, ground
slaked lime,
soda, etc.
The Use of Alkali in Maize Processing Also is Directly
Associated with the Blue Corn Traditions in the Southwest
An Alkali
treatment
breaks down
the bound
Niacin
Cross Cultural
Evolutionary
Hypothesis
Testing in
Appropriate
Ecosystem
Niacin in
Maize is
Indigestibly
Bound
Use of wood
ashes, burned
shells, ground
slaked lime,
soda, etc.
Preparing
maize with
heat and an
Alkali
Traditional Grinding Corn to Meal Among Young Hopi Women Circa 1907
In the Hopi high desert
region, agriculture is very
difficult and every morsel
of corn is a valuable
commodity to be carefully
saved and preserved.
Nothing
is
wasted
here. Even all the dust is
carefully swept back into
the pile to make Piki.
Traditionally
unmarried
young women were often
courted by young men
while
rhythmically
grinding blue corn. This
corn and the piki is used
religiously for blessing a
birth of a child, a
marriage, and for a
funeral. Corn is mother
for the Hopi people.
Hopi Piki
Maker 2004
An Alkali
treatment
breaks down
the bound
Niacin
Cross Cultural
Evolutionary
Hypothesis
Testing in
Appropriate
Ecosystem
Niacin in
Maize is
Indigestibly
Bound
Use of wood
ashes, burned
shells, ground
slaked lime,
soda, etc.
Preparing
maize with
heat and an
Alkali
The Piki Maker 1922 (E.S. Curtis)
Explicit* Cultural Incorporation of Cause and
Effect of Response to Dietary Food Processing
Cognitive
Integration
Proximal
Physiological
Responses
Food Stimuli
Glucose
Upper GI
Hormones
Volume
Satiety
Motility
*Explicit cultural responses are probably incorporated from learned responses
to “hard wired” evolved capacities to satisfy food needs where the cause and
effect relations are readily detectable over a short time period (proximal)
during and following food consumption. .
Implicit* Cultural Incorporation of Cause and
Effect of Response to Dietary Food Processing
Cognitive
Integration
Distal
Food Stimuli
(Niacin & other
Vitamins etc.)
Physiological
Responses
Glucose
Upper GI
Hormones
Volume
Satiety
Motility
The time period between the absence of dietary niacin and the expression of its
deficiency is relatively long (Distal) and the cause and effect relationship is not as
likely to be detected & integrated as is the case for most vitamin deficiencies.
*Implicit cultural responses are probably random and follow game theory evolution
trial and error responses as in a “deep Q-network” Mnih et al Nature 518:529-33, 2015
KEY DIETARY SHIFT IN THE NEOLITHIC
RECIPE
VARIETY
Wide diversity of plants
in Paleolithic diets.
With the enormous productivity
of Neolithic, agriculture diversity
dramatically declines.
Food enhancement
and processing
provides the adaptation.
Traditional cuisines
become established.
“RAW”
“COOKED”
HEATING, FREEZING
FERMENTATION (YEASTS, MOLDS,
BACTERIA), SOAKING, SPROUTING, PEELING,
DRYING, MASHING, SPICING, CHEMICAL COMBINATIONS
WITH OTHER PLANT FOODS
PLANT
VARIETY
RECIPE
VARIETY
COMBINATIONS
ORDER
RITUALS
PRESENTATION
TIMING
ETIQUETTE
FEASTS
FASTS