The Roasted and the Boiled: Food Composition and Heat Treatment with Special Emphasis on Pit-Hearth Cooking
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University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Anthropology Faculty Publications Anthropology, Department of 1-1997 The Roasted and the Boiled: Food Composition and Heat Treatment with Special Emphasis on Pit-Hearth Cooking LuAnn Wandsnider University of Nebraska - Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/anthropologyfacpub Part of the Anthropology Commons Wandsnider, LuAnn, "The Roasted and the Boiled: Food Composition and Heat Treatment with Special Emphasis on Pit-Hearth Cooking" (1997). Anthropology Faculty Publications. 28. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/anthropologyfacpub/28 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Anthropology, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthropology Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Published in Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 16 (1997) , pp. 1–48. Copyright © 1997 Academic Press. Used by permission. http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jaa Submitted March 1, 1996; revised October 17, 1996; accepted October 20, 1996. The Roasted and the Boiled: Food Composition and Heat Treatment with Special Emphasis on Pit-Hearth Cooking LuAnn Wandsnider Department of Anthropology, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0368 Abstract Heat treatment is one of the major ways humans change the composition and chemistry of food tis- sues, making them more digestible, less toxic, and more durable. This paper reviews salient features of food chemistry and food composition and how heat treatment, especially pit-hearth cooking, af- fects that composition. Ethnographic accounts of cooking indicate that traditional populations relied on pit-hearth cooking especially to alter the composition of foods high in either lipids or complex carbohydrates. Historically, pit hearths were also used to process large quantities of food. Various kinds of pit hearths figure prominently in the archaeological deposits of the American Great Plains and elsewhere. The implications of this recurring phenomenon are discussed in terms of the coevo- lution of diet, cooking systems, and the appearance of Neel’s ‘‘thrifty’’ genotype. Introduction tion (Brace et al. 1987; Jackson 1991; Larsen 1995; Stahl 1984), subsistence change and the origins It seems to be a general rule that sciences begin of food production (contributors to Harris and their development with the study of the unusual. Hillman 1989; Hayden 1990), the appearance of They have to develop considerable sophistication ceramic container technology (Braun 1983, 1987; before they interest themselves in the common Brown 1989; Schiffer and Skibo 1987), and status place. differences in access to foods with different qual- Linton 1994:369 ities (e.g., Welch and Scarry 1995). Recently, Ann Stahl (1989) has considered the In 1944, Ralph Linton decried the lack of inter- fundamental relationship between food chemis- est shown by anthropologists and archaeologists try and food processing technology, especially in common archaeological remains, ceramics, highlighting the changes in food processing that and the associated, equally common pursuits of might occur in lieu of subsistence change. This cooking and food processing. By Linton’s reck- paper attempts to continue Stahl’s work, focus- oning, 50 years later, either our sciences have ing expressly on the relationship between food become much more sophisticated or the com- chemistry and cooking strategies that involve monplace is now perceived as the unusual and heat treatment. Where Stahl addressed her work therefore worthy of our scrutiny. Certainly to- to the naive assumptions made about the costs day, research on a wide range of anthropologi- and benefits of food processing in optimal forag- cal questions relies on or considers variation in ing calculations, I am interested in assembling a food exploitation and processing strategies, in- body of reference knowledge (1) that will further cluding studies of hominid and human evolu- our appreciation of the selective use of specific 1 2 L. WANDSNIDER IN JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 16 (1997) cooking technologies and (2) that will make more from any one mouthful of food. They may re- accessible to anthropology the richness of the ar- duce the chance of illness by killing food-borne chaeological record, dominated by the durable bacteria and parasites and by eliminating tox- remains of cooking systems (i.e., ceramic, stone, ins that occur or develop in some tissues. And, and basket containers; varieties of hearths, ov- by cooking, spoilage bacteria are eliminated and ens, and heat reservoir elements), for approach- water, needed by bacteria to grow, is reduced, so ing important anthropological issues. Thus, this that the storage life of food may be extended. paper focuses on the food processing strategy of Cooking encompasses many activities heat treatment and considers the circumstances (Medved 1986; Penfield and Campbell 1990; in which, for example, root baking is selected Stahl 1989). It may entail mechanically grinding over root boiling, pit-roasting over spit-roasting. or pulverizing tissues to increase the surface area Heat treatment is just one of a number of cook- over which various physical or chemical pro- ing strategies available to people and so I begin cesses operate. Food preparation may involve with an overview of cooking and cooking sys- flushing and rinsing plant tissues. Foods may tems. One of several factors that influences the be fermented or partially digested by cultivated design of cooking systems is that of food com- bacteria to break larger components into smaller, position and an abstract of this body of knowl- digestible components. People may bathe food edge, as it relates to thermal food processing, is tissues in salty or acidic solutions to induce developed in the succeeding section. Given this chemical changes. Parching, broiling, spit-roast- understanding of food chemistry and in light of ing, baking, and frying are examples of dry heat the digestive capabilities of anatomically mod- cooking. Moist thermal treatments include brais- ern humans, an evaluation of several expecta- ing, stewing, or boiling. Given this range of food tions for the heat treatment of food by traditional preparation techniques and tools, why is one populations follows. In order to understand the suite or sequence of cooking activities executed special conditions under which they are used, I rather than another? next focus on the pit hearth and related cooking Undoubtedly, many different factors influ- technologies. The paper concludes by highlight- ence the design of a specific cooking system and ing the special role of one heat treatment system, the implementation of specific cooking strategies pit-hearth cooking, for understanding the ap- (Figure 1). For example, the BTUs provided by pearance and maintenance of Neel’s (1962, 1982) an available fuel source, be it seal blubber, grass ‘‘thrifty’’ genotype in association with complexes blades, or wood, will constrain the cooking en- of noncereal foods and related cooking systems, vironment, as will the availability and nature of especially on the Great Plains of North America. containers. Whether food is to be processed for storage or for immediate consumption stipu- lates the sequence and nature of cooking activi- Cooking and Cooking Systems ties (Stahl 1989; Turner et al. 1990:30). If a large number of hands are available, the cooking sys- Ultimately, cooking entails manipulating the tem may be designed to accommodate simulta- temperature, moisture, and pH regime of food as neous root harvesting, fuel collection, and oven well as its surface area so that specific, desirable construction. If other duties must be met and lit- physical and chemical changes can take place. tle time for food preparation is available, peo- Nutritionists and others (Penfield and Campbell ple may draw from previously processed ready- 1990; Stahl 1989) tell us that by processing tissues to-eat foods. And, as Stahl (1989) has recently in this way, people may do one (or all) of several emphasized in her review of food chemistry of things. They advance the digestion process, so cooking strategies, in designing their cooking that more energy and nutrients can be obtained systems, people may be attempting to maximize FOOD COMPOSITION AND HEAT TREATMENT: PIT-HEARTH COOKING 3 Figure 1. Cooking system design parameters. nutrient value, minimize toxins, or compromise importantly, on the physical and chemical prop- these two ends. erties of the raw tissues. Food chemistry is but one of the factors that people consider in designing their cooking sys- Heat Treatment Effects tems. Heat treatment is but one of the strategies available for altering tissues. The following sec- Extrasomatically advance digestion. To un- tions consider the relationship between the two. derstand how cooking advances digestion, we need first to understand raw tissue composition and the form in which those tissue components Food Composition and Thermal Processing must be in order to be absorbed into the human bloodstream. Food tissue is composed of pro- As already mentioned, the thermal processing teins, carbohydrates, lipids, minerals, enzymes, has three effects on food (Penfield and Campbell and water. The tissue polymers of protein, car- 1990): increasing its nutrient density; detoxifying bohydrates, and lipids within