People around the world celebrate many different holidays for many different reasons. But no

因為各種不同的原因，世上的人們有各種不同的慶祝方式

matter how we celebrate, most of us have one thing in common, and that's sitting down to

但不論何種方式，大多有一個共同點，

a big holiday meal together.

就是一起坐下來，享用一頓節日大餐

We're not the only social animals that sit down to eat together, but we are the only

我們不是唯一會大家坐下一起吃東西的群居動物，但我們是唯一會煮過才吃的

ones who cook. Cultural anthropologist Claude Levi-Strass, cooking establishes the difference

文化人類學家Claude Levi-Strass說，因為烹煮讓人和動物產生了不同

between animals and people, although I think he'd agree that pants make a big difference

雖然我認為他會同意，穿褲子也產生了很大的不同

too. I think he was probably talking about the cultural attachments to cooking, the ceremonies,

我認為他可能是指一些飲食文化上的附屬品，例如慶典或餐具，

or the tools, but he was right in a completely different way.

但在另一個完全不同的方面，他是對的

Cooking literally allowed us to become human, in the most basic biological and evolutionary

烹飪（cooking）本身就是我們之所以為人類的原因，不論烹飪（cooking）這個字的在生物學或演化上的意義

sense of the word. This theory is championed by people like Harvard's Richard Wrangham.

這個理論被哈佛的 Richard Wrangham 支持

He says, above all else, cooking allowed us to transition from primitive ape to complex

他說這個原因高於一切，因為烹飪讓我們從原始的猿人轉變為複雜的人類

human. it allowed us to feed our growing brains, and it opened up a lot of free time.

烹飪讓我們餵食了自己不斷增長的大腦，而且創造了很多自由的時間

The success of human culture and evolution is because of our remarkably advanced brain,

人類在文化和演化上的成功，是因為我們非常先進的大腦

it's 100 billion neurons full of language and creativity and curiosity, but that brain

它高達一千億個的神經元，充滿著語言、創意和好奇心。但我們大腦也付出了代價

comes at a cost. It uses 1/5th of the calories that we eat. I guess with great power, comes

它佔用了我們飲食中的五分之一的能量。我想愈大的能力，

great hunger.

伴隨愈大的飢餓感。（蜘蛛人的梗）

We've got enormous brains in relation to our body size, and that's one of the key differences

對比身體大小，我們的大腦佔了很大的比例，而這就是我們和那些原始兄弟們不同的關鍵原因之一

between us and our primate cousins. Take gorillas for instance: they're three times as massive

以大猩猩為例：牠們的體積是人的三倍大，

as humans, but their brains only have one-third the number of neurons. Scientists actually

但牠們大腦中神經元的數目只有人的三分之一

estimate that for a gorilla to have a brain the size of ours, they'd have to add 700 calories

科學家們估計如果大猩猩要運作和我們一樣大小的腦袋，牠們每天要多進食700卡路里的能量

to their daily diet. The thing is gorillas already spend 80% of their daylight hours

問題是大猩猩每天已經要花80%的時間在吃東西了

eating. Their diet is mostly leaves and fruits, and all raw. Chimpanzees, too, spend more

他們的食物主要是葉子和水果，而且都是生的，沒有煮過。黑猩猩也是要花一半以上的時間吃東西

than half of their day eating, compared with us, that's just 5%, but most of that's probably waiting

和我們人類的5%比較，但我們大部份時間可能都在

in line.

排隊等候

Gorillas and chimps share more in common with human ancestors like Australopithecus than

跟我們比較起來，人類祖先南方古猿和大猩猩／黑猩猩有更多共同點

they do with us. Compared to humans, gorilla skulls have enormous jaws, and huge teeth

相比於人類，大猩猩頭骨有巨大的下顎和牙齒，

and powerful ridges to attach chewing muscles, which are all adaptations to a diet that consists

還有附在強大的脊骨上的咀嚼肌，這些都是為了適應緻密的植物性纖維為主

mainly of dense, fibrous plant matter.

組成的飲食

We see a lot of those same traits in Australopithecus, but then something happened around 1.8 million

我們在南方古猿看到很多相同的性狀特徵，但接著大約180萬年前，發生了一些事，

years ago, brains and body sizes doubled, in the form of Homo erectus, the first modern

大腦和身體的大小增加了一倍，人屬的直立人，第一個現代人類的形式

human.

While Australopithecus looks distinctly ape-like, if you saw Homo erectus walking down the street,

雖然南方古猿看起來明顯的和猿猴一樣，但如果你看到的直立人走在馬路上，

you'd pretty much recognize it as human, except for the lack of pants again. But inside of

你幾乎就能認出他是人類，除了身上還是沒穿褲子...

Homo erectus' basically human skull is a basically human brain, which means that it had figured

但基本上直立人的頭骨內就是人類的大腦，

out a way to get a lot more energy out of its food.

這意味著它已經想出了辦法，從食物中獲得更多的能量

Part of that is thanks to hunting and eating large animals, but also to tools that allowed

其中的一部分是由於狩獵和吃進大型動物，

it to cut meat from large animal carcasses and break bones to get at their calorie-rich

而且由於有工具，就能從大型動物屍體切下肉，並破壞骨頭吃到熱量豐富的骨髓

marrow. While Homo erectus probably ate meat when they could get it, we think they still

即使直立人在能取得肉時就會吃肉，但我們認為他們還是以吃菜為主，

ate mostly plants, and it's cooking that made the difference.

而因為烹飪又產生了不同

When plants are cooked, it breaks down their tough cell walls, which lets them release

當植物被烹煮過，能破壞堅固的植物細胞壁，使得植物釋放更多的養份，

more of their nutrients, and it makes them easier to chew. Not only that, heat denatures

並讓植物更容易被咀嚼。不光如此，熱能讓蛋白質螺旋被解開並改變性質，

or unwinds proteins, which allows our bodies to digest them easier and it inactivates plant

讓我們身體能更容易的消化它們，而且使植物內的毒性失去活性

toxins. This means that our ancestors could have gotten access to more foods, and more

這指出我們的祖先能比以往的任何時期，獲得更多的食物和能量，

energy than ever before. This works with animal and meat products too, you can see it every

這在動物性肉類的產品上也行得通，當我們煮雞蛋時就能看到，

time you cook an egg, as you go from clear to white.

從透明到變成白色

There's a catch, though. Scientists haven't found definitive proofthat Homo erectus harnessed

即使這有一個潛藏的問題。科學家們仍無法發現確切的證據，證明直立人在180萬年前就會利用火，

fire 1.8 million years ago, but that could be because things like burnt sticks don't

但那可能是因為像燃燒的木頭棍子很難變成化石，

fossilize well, and well, fossils from that era are pretty rare to begin with.

而且那個時代的化石是很罕見的

Cooking can mean a lot more than just putting your food over fire, though. Maybe it means

然而烹飪的意義比單單放食物在火上煮要多多了

crushing it up into a more edible form, or it could mean preserving it and breaking down

可能意味著磨碎成更可食用的形式，或用鹽巴分解醃製以保存食物，

with salt, maybe it means cutting it into pieces and drying it up in the sun, or mashing

可能指切成片狀然後放在太陽下曬乾，或搗成糊狀讓食物像這樣子來食用，

it up into an edible form like this, and maybe you let nature do the work for you.

可能你讓大自然去做這份工作（如釀酒）

Because our ancestors were spending less time eating, that gave them a bunch of free time

因為我們的祖先花在吃的時間不長，所以讓他們有一堆時間能去做一些事

to do things like develop language, or invent art, and tools. Chimps mostly eat food where

像發展語言、發明藝術或工具。黑猩猩大多在發現食物的地方就吃下去了，

they find it, and they'll gladly take food from another chimp. "I drink your milkshake"

牠們會很樂意從另一隻黑猩猩的手上拿走食物。「我要喝你的奶昔」（黑金企業的梗）

But when our ancestors started cooking food, that means they'd bring it back to a central

但當我們的祖先開始烹煮食物，也指出他們會帶這些食物到一個重要的位置，

location, and that means they'd have to strengthen social bonds and cooperation. Maybe cooking

意味著他們要強化社交與合作

helped us evolve to just get along.

也許烹飪幫助我們進化成能夠＂和睦相處＂

They would have had to invent new tools to carry their food around in, our children would

他們將不得不發明新的工具來裝他們的食物，

have lived longer, and so would our adults. We ate our way to becoming a stronger species.

小孩和成人都會因更好的營養而活得更久。用我們的方式來＂吃＂，讓我們成為更強大的物種

When you sit down to your next holiday meal and your weird Uncle Larry starts talking

下次當你坐下來享用你的節日大餐，而你有點怪的Larry叔叔又開始談起政治時，

about politics again, well, just remember that cooking, together, is a big part of what

就想想因為一起烹飪用餐，是讓我們之所以為人類的一個重要原因，

makes you human, and hey, at least you'll have something else to talk about. Stay curious.

或者起碼你會有其他東西可以聊。保持好奇心

If you'd like to know more about the evolution of human cooking, check out Richard Wrangham's

如果你想了解更多人類烹飪的演變，

"Catching Fire - How Cooking Made Us Human" I've got a link down in the description. And

看看Richard Wrangham的書《引來火燄 - 烹飪如何讓我們成為人》，連結在下面的訊息中

of course, if you'd like to continue to feed your brain, well, subscribe.

當然如果你想要持續的餵食你的大腦，訂閱我們

Special thanks to the Thinkery, Austin's new children's museum, where science and families

特別感謝Thinkery，Austin的全新兒童博物館，在那裡科學和家庭並肩一起遊玩

play side by side. See ya later.

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