More Evol. Psych. (Skip if you have no interest. ^^)
Some VERY cool things from my Evolutionary Psychology reading:
1. All cultures use spices for cooking, and lately scientists have realized that what we consider "spices" are parts of plants with specialized chemicals that kill a number of bacteria that are present in our food. (Ginger and garlic, the most commonly used spices, are actually the most potent bacteria killers.) It's possible that humans evolved a taste for spice because they realized that they had a lower chance of getting food poisoning if they do. Also, meat dishes around the world usually have more spices than vegetable dishes (because meat spoils faster). On top of that, food from near the equator, where food also spoils faster due to the warmer climate, tend to have more spices than food from either poles. (Indian vs Norwegian food, for instance.)
2. Ripe fruit actually start to ferment and can be made of up to 0.6% ethanol. It's been theorized that the human obsession with alcohol drinks (present in all ancient societies) is actually a byproduct of the adaptive primate fondness for ripe fruit. (Obviously, our genes never prepared us for drinking gallons of alcohol drinks since there is no or very little evolutionary benefit to getting drunk.)
3. A sudden dislike for certain foods while pregnant is an evolutionary mechanism in women that prevents future mothers from ingesting toxins that can be harmful to their developing babies. "Normal" foods like broccoli, cabbage, pepper, cauliflower, coffee, certain meats and alcohol all contain minute traces of compounds that are toxic to children. (Interestingly enough, almost no pregnant women in these studies show an aversion to bread or cereal --carbohydrates are necessary for proper fetal development.)
4. (Related to #3) Pregnancy sickness (which includes morning sickness) occurs at exactly the time when the fetus is more vulnerable to toxins (around 2-4 weeks). This sickness disappears around the 8-14th weeks, which also coincides with the end of the period for fetal organ development. Women tend to be exceptionally picky about food and what they ingest at this time, so the "sickness" could be a mechanism to prevent the mother from eating any harmful substances. (ALSO, women who do NOT have pregnancy sickness during their first trimester are actually three times more likely to experience a spontaneous abortion than women who don't).
5. Women are noticeably better than men at spacial memory, which can be demonstrated by asking her to recall where certain things are in a room/place and remembering landmarks. This has been theorized to be due to the fact that in hunter-gatherer societies (both modern day and ancient ones), women were usually the ones that did the gathering. Having better spatial memory than males would allow females primates (and hominids) to remember where tubers and fruits were located.
1. All cultures use spices for cooking, and lately scientists have realized that what we consider "spices" are parts of plants with specialized chemicals that kill a number of bacteria that are present in our food. (Ginger and garlic, the most commonly used spices, are actually the most potent bacteria killers.) It's possible that humans evolved a taste for spice because they realized that they had a lower chance of getting food poisoning if they do. Also, meat dishes around the world usually have more spices than vegetable dishes (because meat spoils faster). On top of that, food from near the equator, where food also spoils faster due to the warmer climate, tend to have more spices than food from either poles. (Indian vs Norwegian food, for instance.)
2. Ripe fruit actually start to ferment and can be made of up to 0.6% ethanol. It's been theorized that the human obsession with alcohol drinks (present in all ancient societies) is actually a byproduct of the adaptive primate fondness for ripe fruit. (Obviously, our genes never prepared us for drinking gallons of alcohol drinks since there is no or very little evolutionary benefit to getting drunk.)
3. A sudden dislike for certain foods while pregnant is an evolutionary mechanism in women that prevents future mothers from ingesting toxins that can be harmful to their developing babies. "Normal" foods like broccoli, cabbage, pepper, cauliflower, coffee, certain meats and alcohol all contain minute traces of compounds that are toxic to children. (Interestingly enough, almost no pregnant women in these studies show an aversion to bread or cereal --carbohydrates are necessary for proper fetal development.)
4. (Related to #3) Pregnancy sickness (which includes morning sickness) occurs at exactly the time when the fetus is more vulnerable to toxins (around 2-4 weeks). This sickness disappears around the 8-14th weeks, which also coincides with the end of the period for fetal organ development. Women tend to be exceptionally picky about food and what they ingest at this time, so the "sickness" could be a mechanism to prevent the mother from eating any harmful substances. (ALSO, women who do NOT have pregnancy sickness during their first trimester are actually three times more likely to experience a spontaneous abortion than women who don't).
5. Women are noticeably better than men at spacial memory, which can be demonstrated by asking her to recall where certain things are in a room/place and remembering landmarks. This has been theorized to be due to the fact that in hunter-gatherer societies (both modern day and ancient ones), women were usually the ones that did the gathering. Having better spatial memory than males would allow females primates (and hominids) to remember where tubers and fruits were located.