Mammoth Appetites
By Rob Dunn, Monica Sanchez
The dominant theory of early human food choices asserts that people decided what to hunt and gather based on nutritional needs. But where does that leave flavor?
This Article From Issue
January-February 2022
Volume 110, Number 1
Page 44
Recently, our family visited southern Arizona, 16 kilometers from the border with Mexico. While there, we began to ponder an unusual flavor, that of mammoth meat. The flavor of mammoth meat doesn’t seem as though it is particularly relevant to daily life in Arizona or anywhere else. But it is. Mammoth meat is an emblem of the flavors we have loved to oblivion.
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- Anthropological and archaeological evidence indicates that early humans factored flavor into their hunting decisions—not just the expediency of fulfilling dietary needs.
- The arrival of the Clovis people in an area often coincided with the disappearance of their favorite prey animals. The tastiness of megafauna might in part explain their extinction.
- A variety of factors affect the flavor of an animal, such as its diet and fat distribution. Those with attributes related to deliciousness tend to be heavily hunted, and thus more rare.
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