Which Food Influenced Humanity The Most?

Food history is, in many ways, the history of humanity. But which development was more important, cooking meat or harvesting grains? Producing sugar or digging up potatoes? We break down our picks for the most impactful foods in human history on this episode of Food History.

In this episode of Food History, we're breaking down the four foods that changed the world: meat, sugar, tubers, and grains. Which will take the crown? Join Justin Dodd and special guest Professor Richard Wrangham in an attempt to answer one of the toughest and most interesting questions we've received at Mental Floss!

Food History is a new series from Mental Floss where we dive deep into the culinary stories that lead to the food on our plates. If you have an idea for a dish, cooking technique, or cuisine that you’d like us to explore in a future episode, tell us in the comments.

Read that great New York Times story about sugar here:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/sugar-slave-trade-slavery.html

These are NOT affiliate links (we make no money off any sales), but they are interesting books that are definitely worth a read:
https://www.amazon.com/Catching-Fire-Cooking-Made-Human/dp/0465013627
https://www.amazon.com/Sweetness-Power-Place-Modern-History/dp/0140092331
https://www.amazon.com/Against-Grain-History-Earliest-States/dp/0300182910

For the origins of mashed potatoes, check out our earlier episode of Food History: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js8Cfwj12W0

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