Food and human evolution

Survival of the fittest in relation to the environment has importantly influenced the evolved structure and function of Homo sapiens, and given the absolute requirement for food consumption for survival, food as environment played a fundamental role in the determination of human structure and function as the species evolved from its most ancient ancestors.

It seems likely, for example, that hunting for vertebrates, increased meat consumption, and expanded tool use were implicated in the evolutionary processes that led to the expansion and reorganization of the australopithecine brain and to the development of Homo's unique capacities for consciousness and semantic universality. There is, at least, little doubt that, throughout most of the Pleistocene, the evolution of biological repertoires and the evolution of behavioral repertoires were closely intertwined and that diet is one domain where the intersection was particularly noteworthy (Harris and Ross 1987).

References

• Harris M., Ross EB. (1987) Food and evolution: toward a theory of human food habits. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 0877224358.