Quinn Minute – Really ancient food

by Rix Quinn Sometimes I wonder how our ancient ancestors survived without foods like breakfast cereal and ice cream. But maybe they didn’t realize what they were missing, because pre-historic television commercials got such poor reception. Seriously,  consider the paleolithic period, which covers about 2.5 million years. Up until 12,000 years ago, these folks were hunters and gatherers. They just kind of wandered around, searching for fruit, vegetables, and slow animals that looked tasty. Their housing was basic. They lived in huts, teepees, or caves. However, without pest exterminators, you can guess the size of cave bugs that crawled over them. Yuck! Anyway, about this time some genius found a way to start a fire. He – or she – heated some meat over it. Wow, that tasted lots better than raw gristle. And it didn’t make them quite as sick. Nobody knows who first invented fire, or how. There’s speculation that some cave dude rubbed two sticks together, or created sparks with flint stones. Today, I can simply rub two sticks together. I call them “matches.” Soon, people realized that flames could keep them warm, improve food flavor, and illuminate the evening hours. They sat around those fires, and...