On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 242

Ifmeateatinghelpedourspeciessurviveand
thenthriveacrosstheglobe,thenit’s
understandablewhymanypeoplesfellintothe
habit,andwhymeatwouldhaveasignificant
placeinhumancultureandtradition.Butthe
deepestsatisfactionineatingmeatprobably
comesfrominstinctandbiology.Beforewe
becamecreaturesofculture,nutritional
wisdomwasbuiltintooursensorysystem,our
tastebuds,odorreceptors,andbrain.Ourtaste
budsinparticulararedesignedtohelpus
recognizeandpursueimportantnutrients:we
havereceptorsforessentialsalts,forenergyrichsugars,foraminoacids,thebuilding
blocksofproteins,forenergy-bearing
moleculescallednucleotides.Rawmeat
triggersallthesetastes,becausemusclecells
arerelativelyfragile,andbecausethey’re
biochemicallyveryactive.Thecellsinaplant
leaforseed,bycontrast,areprotectedby
toughcellwallsthatpreventmuchoftheir
contentsfrombeingfreedbychewing,and


theirproteinandstarcharelockedupininert
storagegranules.Meatisthusmouth-fillingin
awaythatfewplantfoodsare.Itsricharoma
whencookedcomesfromthesame
biochemicalcomplexity.
FoodWords:AnimalsandTheirMeats
AsthenovelistWalterScottandothers
pointedoutlongago,theNormanConquest

ofBritainin1066causedasplitinthe
Englishvocabularyforcommonmeats.
TheSaxonshadtheirownGermanicnames
fortheanimals—ox,steer,cow,heifer,
andcalf;sheep,ram,wether,ewe,and
lamb;swine,hog,gilt,sow,andpig—and
namedtheirfleshbyattaching“meatof”to
theanimalname.WhenFrenchbecamethe
languageoftheEnglishnobilityinthe
centuriesfollowingtheConquest,the
animalnamessurvivedinthecountryside,
butthepreparedmeatswererechristened
inthefashionofthecourtcooks:thefirst