Are Humans Natural Meat Eaters

[nailit]

If humans are 'natural' meat eaters then why do we have to cook meat in order to make it edible?
I have been doing a lot of research in to various diets (and I love my meat) but cant comprehend eating raw meat, which would be the natural way.
We have canines which are designed to eat flesh but also have 30 foot long intestines which are designed to digest plant based food (carnivores have much shorter intestines) The logical conclusion is that we are omnivores but no other animal cooks its prey before eating it.
Also our closest living relatives in the animal kingdom (chimps, apes, etc) are for the most part vegetarian. So back to square one, why do we have flesh tearing canines and why do we feel the need to cook our meat?

[Prudie]

Because we have evolved, that's also why we wear clothes.

[Hopkirk]

Probably because we are intelligent, and have worked out that cooking means you can safely eat meat that has been dead for some time.

[Buenchico]

>>>but no other animal cooks its prey before eating it

. . . because no other animal has discovered how to make fire.

It's likely that Mr & Mrs Ug were happily eating their raw meat one day (as their ancestors had done for many generations before) when Mr Ug accidentally dropped a piece of meat into the fire. Annoyed by Mrs Ug's complaints that he was wasting good food, he decided to try to eat it anyway and was surprised to find that it tasted better and that it was easier to chew. So Mr & Mrs Ug began experimenting with food and fire, to see how the combination worked best together. Their great, great, great, great, great, (etc) grandson, called Heston Blumenthal, is still doing it ;-)

[woofgang]

we don't have to cook meat to make it edible. Its perfectly edible raw. We cook meat because it makes it tastier and not all apes are vegetarian.
WARNING Gross description in this link
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14926-loving-bonobos-have-a-carnivorous-dark-side.html#.VUPLbs4Ri4A

[nailit]

Sure, I get the fire thing for old meat, but isnt meat safe to eat raw if killed fresh?

[Hopkirk]

I think it also kills off some of the nasty parasites in the raw meat

[nailit]

sorry woof, cross posted. Will have a look at that link, thanks

[nailit]

The point is though, are we NATURAL meat eaters if we have to cook our meat?
We dont cook lettuce or cucumber do we? We find them edible as they are.

[237SJ]

There was a movement in California (where else)? a few years ago that advocated eating raw meat. I used to see the adverts on the TV there . You don`t hear much about it these days though - maybe they are all too sick with tape worm.

[Psybbo]

I knew someone who ate raw mince steak and a couple of women who eat their steaks blue, couldn't do it myself.

[Buenchico]

'Meat' is largely muscle tissue, which is generally safe to eat (even if well-aged) as long as it hasn't come into contact with the contents of the abdominal tract (particularly, somewhat obviously, the rectum) or the skin of the animal. If it wasn't, you wouldn't find recipes such as this one:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/steaktartare_89335

[237SJ]

Muscle isn`t safe to eat if it has a tape worm cyst Chris.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapeworm_infection

[237SJ]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapeworm_infection

[nailit]

237 //You don`t hear much about it these days though - maybe they are all too sick with tape worm.// so maybe we havnt evolved as meat eaters??

[nailit]

psibbs //I knew someone who ate raw mince steak and a couple of women who eat their steaks blue, couldn't do it myself.//
BLUE? Dont think I could eat a blue steak either...

[atalanta]

Cooked meat is easier to digest, and we get more nourishment out of meat if cooked rather than raw. Also, cooked meat is more palatable. You may not eat liver or kidney or heart, but I can assure you it is much easier to eat offal if it is cooked, and a good deal of nourishment is to be found in offal, such as certain vitamins and minerals in liver. It is reckoned that our ancestors, before the discovery of fire, had a largely vegetable-based diet, and that our guts were very much longer than we have now. A shorter gut needs less energy, leaving more energy for the development of the brain.

[nailit]

//our guts were very much longer than we have now. //
The gut of a meat eating animal is considerably shorter than ours atalanta. Our gut is more in line with a fruit eating animal. Which brings me back to my question as to why we have flesh tearing teeth (canines) and a herbivore digestive tract.

[nailit]

Going with instinct here, but plant based food (fruit, salad and veg) leave me feeling 'good' while meat leaves me feeling 'satisfied'....as in I feel like ive actually ate something.
Eating bread, rice or pasta leaves me feeling like im hungry again an hour later.

[woofgang]

Because we evolved into omnivores. Being omnivorous is an evolutionary plus. Its easier to get some dietary needs from meat or fish than it is from vegetables and grains; and its advantageous to be able to survive on what is available. We don't HAVE to cook our meat, but again there are evolutionary advantages to doing so.

[Richard1966]

Im not sure we are natural meat eaters. we have some characteristics of carnivores but that could be and evolved condition due to humans moving away from an abundant food source and having to hunt for whatever was available. Cooking meat was simply a way to make it slightly easier to digest and extract nutrients from. We are much better suited to a vegetarian diet.