This makes a great deal of sense to me. Our ideas about which #foods and methods of preparation are tasty vs. disgusting are *deeply* cultural, even in today's relatively homogenized world.
Much more so when our #ancestors lived in widely separated groups, in vastly different environments, and making use of whatever they could get was the only alternative to #starvation. Humans are the omni-est of #omnivores, and we assign cultural significance to practically everything we do.
Also, I'm always just happy to pass on any news that demonstrates how much the modern idea of the "#paleo diet" is bullshit. That's a pretty strong preference on my part, but I don't claim it as a cultural universal. 😉
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/meat-rotten-putrid-paleo-diet-fire-neanderthal
@Pat Heh. Most of that was probably infant mortality, to be fair. And older children and adults at any point in their lives were a lot more likely to die by misadventure, infectious disease, or environmental causes, than we are now. I suspect the lifespan for people who manage to avoid *external* causes of death really hasn't changed much throughout the history of the species.
But yeah. Just because they ate a certain way, based on what they could get at the time, doesn't mean that was the ideal diet! Same for other species, really, e.g. all the "this is the natural diet for your dog or cat" pet food.
In fairness, I should add that I do know people who have found certain aspects of the #paleodiet work well for them. Weight loss, lower blood sugar, etc. Okay: I think the ideal #diet is very much an individual thing, and people who are measurably healthier when they eat a certain way should absolutely eat that way! But when it becomes an #evangelical #religion, it ceases to have any possible medical value.