We Are What We Ate: The Diets that Fueled Human Evolution

Join CARTA in-person at the Salk Institute or online on Friday, October 30, for our free public symposium, We Are What We Ate: The Diets that Fueled Human Evolution! For more information and to register to attend, please visit https://carta.anthropogeny.org/events/we-are-what-we-ate-diets-fueled-human-evolution

ABSTRACT: The vast majority of human evolutionary history was fueled by diets composed exclusively of wild foods gathered and hunted rather than planted and raised. Compared to our ape-ancestors, and in contrast to today's living apes, members of the genus Homo have increasingly relied on technology and cumulative culture, such as use of complex tools, fire, and later fermentation, to access a broader range of foods across diverse ecosystems while defining foodways and regional identities. These innovations facilitated the global radiation of humans to every corner of the planet. Following the Last Glacial Maximum, approximately 12,000 years ago, the transition to agriculture marked a pivotal shift in human dietary patterns. The domestication of crops and livestock enabled food surplus, sedentism, and population growth, while introducing new nutritional and health consequences. More recently, widespread industrial food processing and ultra-refined diets may be driving additional physiological changes with unknown consequences for metabolism, disease, and the human microbiome, along with environmental impacts. This symposium examines the diets that fueled human evolution, drawing on evidence from paleontology, archeology, genetics, comparative anatomy and physiology, modern nutritional science, microbiome research, and ethnographic studies of the few remaining living foragers. Together, these perspectives can illuminate how dietary adaptations have shaped and continue to influence human biology, health, and culture.