I took anthropology classes in college, and still enjoy the field alot.
We, Homo sapiens use fire to cook our food and derive more from it. And so did Homo neanderthalensis. And so did his precursor, Homo heidelbergensis. And further back, so Homo erectus -- a million years ago.
Darwin described cooking as the second most important discovery after that of language.
But in the view of primatologist Richard Wrangham: "The introduction of cooking may well have been the decisive factor in leading man from a primarily animal existence into one that was more fully human."
In his enormously enjoyable lay science book HEAT, Bill Streever writes: "By the time of Homo sapiens, fire was part of everyday life. Homo sapiens was born halfway down the on-ramp to climate change."
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