The Origins of Cooking

What was the first meal that we can truly say was cooked? Would it have been the first piece of meat roasted over a fire? Perhaps it was the first piece of nourishment chopped, crushed or mashed by an early human implement? When does the gathering of and consumption of food cease to be a simple, biological act for mankind – not so dissimilar to those carried out by other animals – and when does it become a cultural practice?

This essential volume examines the foundations of cuisine, starting with its earliest sources. Tracing every element of the produce, implements, and skills involved in food preparation, it asks such timely questions as: is the choice of raw food an act of cooking, or does cooking begin when specific tools are used to adapt it? Can food be considered ‘cooked’ when eaten in its raw state?

Since closing his hugely influential, world-renowned restaurant, elBulli, Ferran Adrià has sought to widen and deepen the world’s understanding of the culinary arts, via his elBullifoundation. Alongside courses, apps and Masters degrees, the foundation’s new book sets out a clearer understanding of how early mankind first fed itself.