¶ … cooking baseball hobbies, concerned water shortages, a career interest, curious live Iceland. Do research, Web Leatherby Library. See search. The purpose -fold: explore gather information make judgments usefulness, interest researched talked a variety perspectives. For the purpose of this essay I chose to look at some aspects in the evolution of cooking, from its emergence in its simplest forms centuries ago to its characteristics nowadays, constantly growing and developing. I selected this topic especially because I am interested in cooking and was curious too discover more aspects in its development and ways it can be approached from so many different angles, all very interesting and revealing in relation to human kind and society in general. I was surprised to see how many ways one can discuss cooking.

At its beginnings, cooking was nothing more than a survival element. It appeared as humans discovered fire (Wrangham 2) and was used in order to transition from raw food to cooked meals; thus, Homo sapiens became "the cooking animal" (Symons 46). A very rudimentary process, it ensured the evolution of the human species (Dell'Amore); for example, some scholars have claimed that cooked meat is much beneficial for the development of the human brain than raw meat, supporting the idea that humans acquired the habit of cooking as a way to evolve as a species (Reuell; Mann). Gradually people became more skillful at cooking, more interested in taste, good food and appearance of meals. That led, centuries after, to the development of cooking as a professional activity, a career in itself, a means of social recognition, a profit maker (cooking is now a major part of the media through books, specialized TV shows and even dedicated TV channels, commercials or campaigns), a health issue (more and more attention is given to careful...

As seen so far, the activity of cooking has went through many transformations, both in the way it is performed and in the way it is perceived by the human species, going from a survival essential to a socially relevant and profit-making activity. I found it interesting to present an overview of this development and draw some observations regarding this subject.
I started my search by looking up relevant information on the emergence of cooking. Rodriguez-Alegria observes in his work that at its beginnings, cooking was considered not to require any superior skills, being completely "not prestigious" (1), which is in line with the idea of simply cooking for survival. However, advancing in time, cooking become a very important element of national identity, and is now seen as a cultural component: peoples developed their own sense of culinary tastes, making this activity a means of differentiating themselves among others. It has also become a marker for different holiday celebrations. Each holiday has come to be identified by a traditional, characteristic food choice.

In modern times, though, cooking has gained even more significance on many levels. First, it developed into a profession, a true career path: becoming a good cook and a chef, nationally or internationally acclaimed is a goal for passionate cooks. Supporting this trend, there has been a pronounced educational focus on cooking: specialised trainings and classes have been launched, university degrees have been set in place in order to help develop this activity as a profession. Secondly, it is clear that in our modern times, cooking is a lot more than just setting up a decent meal. Beyond this basic focus, cooking has gained social meaning. For instance, being able to enjoy a well cooked meal while…