Philip J. Goscienski, M.D.
July 2006
Mankind's accidental chefs are those who discovered new delicacies when they tasted foods that were contaminated by bacteria or molds. That probably happened often during the Stone Age. Preservation of food by means of refrigeration or freezing is a modern phenomenon and even now it is not available to millions in the African, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern lands where human civilizations began.
Can you not help but wonder at the puzzled but delighted expression on the face of that brave man or woman who tasted the first cheese — especially Roquefort, whose moldy contribution is so obvious, or limburger, whose odor borders on foul? The folks who ate the first fermented cabbage — sauerkraut — and its Asian counterpart, kim chee, may have had a poor sense of smell. Or perhaps not.
Fresh, totally unspoiled food is a modern luxury and the earliest humans probably were used to a little food spoilage. Anthropologists claim that the earliest Stone Age men and women ate carrion — what we call road kill. It took a couple of million years for humans to develop efficient hunting weapons so that they could have meat that was consistently fresh.
It was probably the need for cooks to hide the taste of mildly spoiled foods that contributed to the flourishing spice trade. Some historians argue that it was the yearning for culinary elegance, not culinary subterfuge that fueled the spice industry.
The difference between rotten and fermented isn't always clear. Modern fermentation is a controlled process that occurs when a certain yeast is added to grape juice to make wine or a particular bacterial culture is added to cabbage to yield sauerkraut. Food rots when random microorganisms cause it to disintegrate into mush but that doesn't seem to bother some people.
In certain cultures what we would consider rotten foods are delicacies. The Romans enjoyed a sauce called garum. They placed assorted fish parts in an earthenware vessel and allowed it to stand in a sunny location for 2 or 3 months, sometimes for as long as 18 months. The North American Inuit enjoy mikiyak. They put whale meat, blubber (fat) and fish into a large container. It's ready for the feast when bubbles form on the surface of the mixture.
Tainted food that is capable of causing severe illness doesn't always reveal its danger with a foul odor or unpleasant taste. That's why it's so important to take careful precautions in the preparation of foods that are particularly likely to be contaminated with dangerous germs. Chicken, turkey, eggs and ground beef are among the worst offenders
There must have been a lot of morbid trial and error along the way to wine, cheese, yogurt, buttermilk and beer. Fortunately for the human race, most spoiled food doesn't make us sick because the microbes that attack the food don't attack us. The few that do have wiped out millions of people. Botulism follows improper canning methods but it can also result from eating contaminated meat or fish. Ergot poisoning, common throughout history, occurs when a mold that forms a toxin contaminates grain supplies. Similar examples have crowded medical texts for centuries.
Brave, indeed, were these accidental chefs.
Philip J. Goscienski, M.D. is the author of Health Secrets of the Stone Age, Better Life Publishers 2005. Contact him at drphil@stoneagedoc.com.