I can see why domesticated animals are tasty - we’ve bred them for millennia to be that way, but why would wild fish, for example, be so tempting?
Surely if they tasted like earwax nothing would want to catch and eat them, so they would have better odds of surviving and procreating.
Because evolution is accidental.
It's because they are mostly made of tasty, tasty meat.
The more serious answer is that maybe we've evolved to enjoy the taste of other animals as an evolutionary incentive to catch and eat them rather than starve to death.
When did humans stop being so damn tasty?
he more serious answer is that maybe we’ve evolved to enjoy the taste of other animals as an evolutionary incentive to catch and eat them rather than starve to death.
Pretty much this I think.
...because BACON!
That one's for you Cougs!
"Delicious" is a social construct. You only think they're delicious because you were told that when you were a baby. If your parents had fed you on insects and grass clippings, you'd think those were delicious. That orange "cheese" that comes with boxes of Mac and Cheese is conclusive proof of this.
The more serious answer is that maybe we’ve evolved to enjoy the taste of other animals as an evolutionary incentive to catch and eat them rather than starve to death.
After Brexit, the long process towards finding cabbage and turnips delicious begins.
…because BACON!
And of course human flesh tastes of bacon apparently.
That orange “cheese” that comes with boxes of Mac and Cheese is conclusive proof of this.
It isn't. That is the forbidden cheese but it is even more delicious as a result.
When did humans stop being so damn tasty?
They didn't...
Burp.
They didn’t…
I have seen many short films on the Internet which seem to support this hypothesis.
I’ve eaten plenty of insects when I lived in Thailand. I wasn’t told they were tasty when I was young, but I can confirm they are delicious. I’d steer clear of ants eggs though.
Ok, I get that we (and other meat eating animals) evolved to think animals were tasty as that gave us good survival chances, but you’d think that tasting disgusting would be a good survival trait. An animal that mutated to taste bad would have better survival chances, no?
An animal that mutated to taste bad would have better survival chances, no?
Didn't work for Michael Jackson, did it?
That is the forbidden cheese but it is even more delicious as a result.
Oh dear. I Googled "forbidden cheese", it came back with "Why is maggot cheese illegal?" I'm not brave enough to click on the link.
Apparently bats are a bit moreish. Not recommended these days for some reason.
I’ve eaten plenty of insects when I lived in Thailand. I wasn’t told they were tasty when I was young, but I can confirm they are delicious.
Every time I eat shrimp, I can't help but to think that I'm eating sea cockroaches.
An animal that mutated to taste bad would have better survival chances, no?
Yes and no.
Evolution is like an arms race.
Every time the prey adapts to survive, the predator adapts by the process of natural selection to counter that mutation.
The prey taste bad...the predator evolves to find it tasty.
The prey becomes poisonous...the predator develops immunity to the poison.
Oh dear. I Googled “forbidden cheese”, it came back with “Why is maggot cheese illegal?” I’m not brave enough to click on the link.
Sardinian delicacy. Doesn't meet eu food standards. Mmmm Cheese,...
The prey becomes poisonous…the predator develops immunity to the poison.
Hasn't happened yet for Britney - she's still going strong.
Doesn’t meet eu food standards.
Something to do with exceeding the allowable maggot content?
My favourite bit of food evolution trivia involves chilli plants.
Chilli peppers evolved capsaicin as a chemical irritant that effects mammals but not birds. Birds are better at dispersing seeds than mammals, they tend to pass the seeds whole, rather then chewed up. So Chilli plants that produced capsaicin were more successful.
But then daft humans came along and decided they enjoyed the sensation of having their faces on fire so started eating the chillies.
Interesting topic.
For me, a lot of it is cultural. Tastes and preferences are socially constructed. Chomping down on some grisly chicken feet in China brings equal satisfaction to the revulsion of a vegan forced to eat a bacon sandwich in California. In western culture, meat has also been associated with masculinity and power, e.g. those muscleheads on IG posting pictures of stakes and boasting about their dietary habits or like the mythology of the hunter in the US and the values of self-reliance and sufficiency it engenders.
So it's also about values: the Incas, for example, wordshipped the lama, and so therefore refrained from slaughtering them, in India, the cow is sacred because it was a cornerstone of the agrarian society. I've never tried it human flesh, but I'd say it's probably as satisfying to eat as pork if sauteed, however most of us would balk if we found out we were eating our own kind because we've been taught to believe it's an abomination, as slaughtering a cow or eating your dog might be, depending on your cultural values.
Is it a state of mind? I used to eat meat. I have been meat free for nearly a year and the thought of eating meat turns my stomach (not preaching or owt, i'm not one of 'those' non meat eaters). But does that mean I wouldn't find it tasty? Or has my thoughts towards meat given me a phycological block that would subconsciously make me think it tastes bad?
Chomping down on some grisly chicken feet in China brings equal satisfaction to the revulsion of a vegan forced to eat a bacon sandwich in California.
Chicken feet are actually pretty tasty. I'd still go for bacon though.
most of us would balk if we found out we were eating our own kind.
Cannabalism is actually very unhealthy - high risk of spreading diseases. We may instinctively avoid eating our own species due to natural selection rather than due to cultural conditioning.
but you’d think that tasting disgusting would be a good survival trait.
you'd probably fins slugs pretty nasty, you can eat them, but the slime they produce is very bitter. Hedgehogs on the other hand, don't care.
Cannabalism is actually very unhealthy – high risk of spreading diseases. We may instinctively avoid eating our own species due to natural selection rather than due to cultural conditioning.
Yep, and some cultural conditioning was very useful from a food safety point of view.
BITD avoiding pig products or shellfish was a good way of avoiding parasites and food poisoning
Surely if they tasted like earwax nothing would want to catch and eat them, so they would have better odds of surviving and procreating
A species without predators overbreeds and exhausts it’s food supply / environment and starves to death. There’s a balance struck between breeding and being eaten and prey species rely on predators eating a percentage of their offspring before they themselves breed. (Although I doubt that they relish the idea)
When you see tadpoles in a pond most of them won’t live long enough to <span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">hop out of the pond - something like only 1 in 4000 make it to breeding age.</span>
species at the top of the food chain keep their own numbers low - breed in lower numbers and behave territorially and drive competitors away - even drive their own adult offspring away - so as not over predate their own food supply
Hedgehogs on the other hand,
...... taste a bit like chicken
For me, a lot of it is cultural.
Not in terms of evolution.
In evolutionary terms, humans as a species stopped evolving food-wise, as soon as they invented agriculture and domestication of prey animals.
We started evolving our food instead.
There's defiantly a programmed evolutianary reason.
Why do we like foot that's bad for us and get fat?
That's the wrong way to look at it, were programmed to gorge on calorific foods as in nature they would be scarce. Thats not to say you can't consciously override that urge with some thought and self control, but who ever just eats 3 pringles or half a chocolate bar?
Evolutionary biologists: why did animals evolve to be delicious?
You don’t need to be an evolutionary biologist to recognise the question is wrong - what examples are there of animals that evolved to be delicious?
Predators (like us) evolve to find their prey delicious - otherwise they would soon be extinct.
It’s pretty hard for animals to just evolve a new features, but some have tried quite hard, such as hedgehogs, porcupines and skunks.
haven't eaten meat since 14yo or dairy since 18yo, usually the smells that people revere (bacon, croissants) are nauseating to me. I'll cross the road to avoid the cheese shop smell, hold my breath going past the supermarket aisle with the pigs' legs hanging up (this is Spain btw).
End of the day it's what you're used to. The Koreans I used to work with loved the smell of a certain traditional fermented fish dish, but would decline to order it if we westerners were eating with them out of consideration. It was not for no reason.
We started evolving our food instead.
human flesh... however most of us would balk if we found out we were eating our own kind
I wonder if the Uruguayan rugby team were asked what it tastes like?
Hedgehogs on the other hand,
…… taste a bit like chicken
Are you sure? Last one I ate tasted very much of cheese and pineapple
I wonder if the Uruguayan rugby team were asked what it tastes like?
They ate the pilots first. Must have felt good.
why did animals evolve to be delicious?
They are not delicious to me, the smell of meat is ****ing disgusting and the sight of it lying in a butchers window turns my stomach.
Personally i consider it inhumane to eat meat, prob why im single (insert winky smilie)
The prey taste bad…the predator evolves to find it tasty.
The prey becomes poisonous…the predator develops immunity to the poison.
Like chillies, and all the delicious spicy foods all right minded people adore.
Ah, beaten to it.
Predators (like us) evolve to find their prey delicious
It has been speculated that a long extinct big cat probably preyed on early Australopithecines. Makes sense, there are leopards and Hyenas that will take chimps. There's a very interesting book called Man the Hunted that explores this really fascinating aspect of our evolutionary past.
An animal that mutated to taste bad would have better survival chances, no?
Evolution doesn't work in this case. The humans assumptions is that the animals for given breed taste the same. The human only finds out after they have killed one so any less nice ones will not survive more than the nicer ones.
whut?
Taste has nothing to do with evolution really other than as a safety mechanism to ensure you don't eat something that is poisonous or will do you harm. Animals are driven by hunger first, then sex. If they're not grazing or hunting, they're looking to get their leg over. They spend their time starving almost all the time, and horny. Humans have solved one of those in that they no longer spend all their time starving so we have the luxury of taste and selecting food based on taste preference...but if you're hungry enough you'll eat anything and hunger will completely drive your behaviour.
Any animal that evolved not to be delicious to predators (or eliminated its predators, see humans) wouldn't have pressures of natural selection and would get slower and weaker. Then some other animal would evolve to eat it because it's plentiful and easy to catch.
I'm sure I've heard about animals that are poisonous but some other specific species evolved to tolerate the poison and munches away at leisure - but I forget the details...
