Progress of Processed Food Step by Step in Civilization
The market is now full of processed foods. Numerous processed foods like cheese, cereals, chips, rolls, salami, sausages, cakes are what we eat every day. Recently, there has been a lot of talk about the health risks of these foods. One thing that is clear from the various discussions between doctors, researchers, nutritionists, and other concerned persons is that these foods can be extremely harmful to the body in the long run due to overdose.
The question is – when, where, and why did the idea that food can be processed originate? How exactly did humanity become interested in food processing? How much has food processing changed evolution as a human being? Is Processed Food Harmful to Health? Today’s event is about the discussion of these issues.
Homo sapiens is the binomial name of the man (evolutionary survivors, the most modern, and those who survive now). Hominin refers to the collective form of the modern human race. Homo habilis (members of the Hominin group) survived 2.4 million to 1.4 million years ago. Evidence suggests that the idea of processed food first came to their minds.
One of the possible changes in the diet may be that they may smash the tree’s roots with a stone before being put in the mouth instead of being eaten directly. Another example is to cut the meat into small pieces before eating. Although these seemingly subtle changes in diet before meals have had far-reaching effects, the tendency to chew food has been reduced by 5%! As the pressure on the chewing gum decreases, the body then begins to move the energy previously expended behind the cheeks, jaw muscles, and teeth in different directions. As a result, the face of Habilis became smaller than the skull.
In the case of Habilis and Erectus, and Neanderthallensis, the size of the face was significantly smaller than the estimated size. The only explanation that evolution allowed for such a sudden change (unexpected change in tooth size) was that the task of chewing food became relatively easy for that species. And the easiest way to chew food is to process the food through some thermal change.
As the role of teeth in chewing food decreased, the brain gradually became larger than the human body. Due to this change in the way the mouth used to participate in chewing food as a whole, he became preoccupied with making the language of the mouth more and more complicated. Gradually the development of oral language and facial expressions in human communication began to take place.
The most important driving force in food processing was the long-term preservation of food. We can now store food at cryogenic temperatures (150 degrees Celsius or lower) thanks to technology.
During World War II, when tin supplies from China dwindled, the canned food market collapsed. It is the inadequacy of tin that later contributes to the popularity of frozen foods. The sheer waste of food in the 1980s inspired a California farmer to innovate. Tired of seeing more than 360 tons of carrots being wasted every year, the farmer got annoyed and brought a cutting machine used in the industry, cut the carrots, and started storing and marketing them as two-inch pieces. Historians later jokingly called this event the mini carrot revolution. The result of this revolutionary change? 33% increase in the tendency of Americans to eat carrots.
The role of processed foods behind what we as human beings are today is outstanding. Our endless leisure time, eating fast food, taking ready-made food of choice, filling nutritional deficiencies – the effect of processed food is undeniable. Y step in civilization.