A Reason Humans May Cook Their Food

I've read a little further into "The Omnivore's Dilemma" (by Michael Pollan) and I found this little snippet on page 264 of the hardback edition: "One of the reasons we cook meat (besides making it tastier and easier to digest) is to civilize, or sublimate, what is at bottom a fairly brutal transaction between animals. The anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss described the work of civilization as the process of transforming the raw into the cooked -- nature into culture."

Rather interesting stuff, don't you think?
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Cooking Shows

I'm laying on my couch now, watching Rachael Ray and Gordon Ramsay babble about pork chops and "simple" ways to prepare them.
Not only do I get hungry when watching these cooking shows, I also feel this urge to get off my lazy ass and go cook something. On occasion, I actually do this (to the shock and awe of my family): the Oreo cheese cake, yummy salmon salad, and spinach fritata.
Now, I want to learn more about cooking: the science of it, how different ingredients relate to each other. The fact that I'm reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals", written by Michael Pollan, has just spiked my food information interests even further.
Even while reading this book, I find myself craving more information: how and why humans began to cook their food, why most cultures have a 3-meals per day fixture, why we eat the meals we do, and many others.
I guess I'll blog these answers when I find them. I mean, I can't be the only one wondering this!
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Stretched Thin

Being a know-it-all sucks. You know why? Because I feel pulled in so many directions, so many kingdoms of subjects, kinds of topics.



I'm entering another year of college, and I don't know what I want to study. Granted, I don't have enough credits to even begin contemplating my major, but I have a problem nonetheless.



Here, I'll list what majors I've been envisioning for the past 3 years: Ornithology - veterinary science - English - creative writing - classical languages - ancient history - English history - linguistics - creative writing - anthropology - history - Exotic Animal Training and Management (a program @ Moorpark College, California) - vet tech - animal science w/ horse training concentration - animal behavior - history of human/animal interaction...



I'm effing all over the place. Sometimes I think of dropping all this institutional learning and start writing questions for trivia game shows. Or better yet: WINNING THEM! Just think: if I could win all the money I'd ever need, I'd be able to do anything, learn anything I wanted without any restrictions at all!



Your Tikia, building castles in the sky.

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