5 ms·

Did Early Humans Invent Hot Pot in Geothermal Pools?

30 points by alikim 6y ago

alikim 6y ago
And the relevant article in PNAS: https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/09/14/2004532117 https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/09/14/2004532117
kyuudou 6y ago
Later humans in Japan did using onsen, which is basically the same thing IIRC: http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20200824-the-japanese-village-that-cooks-in-a-hot-spring http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20200824-the-japanese-villag... Definitely plausible.
- moufestaphio 6y ago
  I've tried the 温泉卵 onsen tamago(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onsen_tamago https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onsen_tamago). The one I had was kind of over cooked and had a sulfur taste. Wasn't great. In Iceland they also use the hotsprings to cook bread: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz-7iUw8Sl0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz-7iUw8Sl0
  - eru 6y ago
    Well, whether your egg will have a sulphuric taste will depend on whether the onsen you went to had sulphuric water.
    - ipsum2 6y ago
      No, just cooking an egg for a long time at high temperatures will bring out the sulfur taste. Try boiling an egg for 15 minutes.
      - eru 6y ago
        Oh, true, I hadn't thought about that.
- tdeck 6y ago
  In Iceland they bury bread dough in little boxes near hot springs and bake sulfur-flavored rye bread https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%BAgbrau%C3%B0?wprov=sfla1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%BAgbrau%C3%B0?wprov=sfla1
johndoe42377 6y ago
Obviously no. It is a stupid idea from Jungian and Froidian "psychology" that symbols have been invented once and then propagated everywhere, and that this supposed propagation is an evidence of migration pathways and relationship. Same stupidity goes with linguistics - if something is called by the same name in the different parts of the world, there must be an infallible evidence of migration and relation. No, everything related to the constraints of the environment (Nature) has been invented many times independently. Basic symbols based on geometric shapes too.
- tt433 6y ago
  I fail to see how this is "obvious." By the logic that nature invents things many times, isn't it possible some humans at some point did this? Obviously they didn't call it "hot pot," the article doesn't actually suggest that, it's used as a shortcut in a headline to communicate a point. Your suggestion of a link to Jung and Freud makes no sense to me...
  - johndoe42377 6y ago
    Generally speaking, humanities was a mistake. These "scientists" memed the main principle of science from scientific evidence to scientific, or more precisely - sectarian consensus. Peer review is not by any means criterion for even approximation to the truth. The article in question should have been reviewed exactly like I did.
    - gota 6y ago
      You'll excuse me when I say you sound like you have zero experience at reputable levels of academic "humanities". Humanities are not exact sciences for a single reason - they comprise too many variables for a primate brain to reason about. There's no god mandated set of borders defining "types" of science. There are fields so complex that they have to be dealt in so high an abstraction level that we call them subjective. Absolutely does not mean that the objects they study are unworthy of study. Precisely the opposite, in fact. Also does not mean that, even if a portion of people are faking, there are no valuable insights coming from the scientific field. I'll point out that there are a huge number of "fake efforts" in the hard sciences as well. Cost of doing science at scale with bad incentive engines. Finally, if your issue with the "humanities" is with a perceived politization of the academia, I'd suggest formally educating yourself in those subjects and taking a place in said politics instead of, you know, acting like a reactionary teen or twentysumthin. No offense, but complaining about politization from the outside is a useless venting effort.
stanrivers 6y ago
Like, there is no doubt that humans probably noticed that hot water in the ground cooked things that fell into them. But, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that it was probably someone with boiled water from that whole fire thing we figured out a while ago that invented the revolutionary idea of putting more than just a dead animal into the water. Just a guess though.
- tt433 6y ago
  I believe the authors are postulating about the behavior of pre-human ancestors without the capability to generate fires on demand. “The paper opens a window to stop focusing on there being fire or there not being fire, to say there are other ways to cook and we should be looking for them.”
andygcook 6y ago
My partner loves hot pot, so I bought her a home hot pot kit for Christmas last year. At first she didn’t want to use it at all which was disappointing, but then it become a huge hit when all the restaurants closed down for Covid. Home hot pot has now turned into our fun date night tradition on Friday’s where we eat together for a few hours while talking. Here’s our list of ingredients we like if anyone is curious. Would love to hear other recommendations to try too: King oyster mushrooms, Shitaki mushrooms, Tofu skin dried, Frozen bean curd rolls frozen, Fried tofu, Bean curd nuggets, Choripdong Oriental Style Noodles, Bok Choy, Broccoli, Corn on cob, Lotus root, Beef (thin sliced), Shrimp Part of the fun is plating the ingredients before eating and working on our presentation skills together. It’s really rewarding when we can make it look like they do at the restaurant. After some trial and error, we also recommend the Little Lamb broths. They comes in different spice levels and taste just like the restaurant. All you need to do is add six cups of water: https://www.amazon.com/Little-Sheep-Soup-Base-235-Grams/dp/B004XY6IPK https://www.amazon.com/Little-Sheep-Soup-Base-235-Grams/dp/B... FYI that’s not an affiliate link, I just like hot pot and wanted to share. (Edit - formatting)
- pki-ask 6y ago
  You can also try adding fish balls (can find at Asian supermarkets). Another is Napa cabbage - it sounds quite plain but is surprisingly good in a hot pot. Also try getting a fish based bbq sauce (it’s a Taiwanese brand), and mixing that with sesame oil, soy sauce, chili oil, ginger/green onions/cilantro/garlic, finely chopped. For noodles, I would use udon, hands down. Lastly, adding steamed rice to the broth at the end with beaten egg to make a congee is excellent.
  - panda88888 6y ago
    Do you mean this one? This is one of my favorite sauce. https://www.99ranch.com/zh-hant/shop/condiments_and_spices/seasoning/bullhead_barbecue_sauce/p/5526813 https://www.99ranch.com/zh-hant/shop/condiments_and_spices/s...
  - andygcook 6y ago
    We bought some fish balls, but they weren’t great. Need to experiment with others or better yet, make our own.
heisenzombie 6y ago
Here are Māori cooking in geothermal hot springs https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/40251/cooking-food-in-hot-springs-1901 https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/40251/cooking-food-in-ho... Obviously much more recent, but shows that when you live around a bunch of free hot water, it’s a practical cooking method.

30 points by alikim 6y ago

And the relevant article in PNAS: https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/09/14/2004532117 https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/09/14/2004532117

kyuudou 6y ago

Later humans in Japan did using onsen, which is basically the same thing IIRC: http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20200824-the-japanese-village-that-cooks-in-a-hot-spring http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20200824-the-japanese-villag... Definitely plausible.

moufestaphio 6y ago
I've tried the 温泉卵 onsen tamago(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onsen_tamago https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onsen_tamago). The one I had was kind of over cooked and had a sulfur taste. Wasn't great. In Iceland they also use the hotsprings to cook bread: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz-7iUw8Sl0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz-7iUw8Sl0
- eru 6y ago
  Well, whether your egg will have a sulphuric taste will depend on whether the onsen you went to had sulphuric water.
  - ipsum2 6y ago
    No, just cooking an egg for a long time at high temperatures will bring out the sulfur taste. Try boiling an egg for 15 minutes.
    - eru 6y ago
      Oh, true, I hadn't thought about that.
tdeck 6y ago
In Iceland they bury bread dough in little boxes near hot springs and bake sulfur-flavored rye bread https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%BAgbrau%C3%B0?wprov=sfla1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%BAgbrau%C3%B0?wprov=sfla1

johndoe42377 6y ago

Obviously no. It is a stupid idea from Jungian and Froidian "psychology" that symbols have been invented once and then propagated everywhere, and that this supposed propagation is an evidence of migration pathways and relationship. Same stupidity goes with linguistics - if something is called by the same name in the different parts of the world, there must be an infallible evidence of migration and relation. No, everything related to the constraints of the environment (Nature) has been invented many times independently. Basic symbols based on geometric shapes too.

tt433 6y ago
I fail to see how this is "obvious." By the logic that nature invents things many times, isn't it possible some humans at some point did this? Obviously they didn't call it "hot pot," the article doesn't actually suggest that, it's used as a shortcut in a headline to communicate a point. Your suggestion of a link to Jung and Freud makes no sense to me...
- johndoe42377 6y ago
  Generally speaking, humanities was a mistake. These "scientists" memed the main principle of science from scientific evidence to scientific, or more precisely - sectarian consensus. Peer review is not by any means criterion for even approximation to the truth. The article in question should have been reviewed exactly like I did.
  - gota 6y ago
    You'll excuse me when I say you sound like you have zero experience at reputable levels of academic "humanities". Humanities are not exact sciences for a single reason - they comprise too many variables for a primate brain to reason about. There's no god mandated set of borders defining "types" of science. There are fields so complex that they have to be dealt in so high an abstraction level that we call them subjective. Absolutely does not mean that the objects they study are unworthy of study. Precisely the opposite, in fact. Also does not mean that, even if a portion of people are faking, there are no valuable insights coming from the scientific field. I'll point out that there are a huge number of "fake efforts" in the hard sciences as well. Cost of doing science at scale with bad incentive engines. Finally, if your issue with the "humanities" is with a perceived politization of the academia, I'd suggest formally educating yourself in those subjects and taking a place in said politics instead of, you know, acting like a reactionary teen or twentysumthin. No offense, but complaining about politization from the outside is a useless venting effort.

stanrivers 6y ago

Like, there is no doubt that humans probably noticed that hot water in the ground cooked things that fell into them. But, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that it was probably someone with boiled water from that whole fire thing we figured out a while ago that invented the revolutionary idea of putting more than just a dead animal into the water. Just a guess though.

tt433 6y ago
I believe the authors are postulating about the behavior of pre-human ancestors without the capability to generate fires on demand. “The paper opens a window to stop focusing on there being fire or there not being fire, to say there are other ways to cook and we should be looking for them.”

andygcook 6y ago

My partner loves hot pot, so I bought her a home hot pot kit for Christmas last year. At first she didn’t want to use it at all which was disappointing, but then it become a huge hit when all the restaurants closed down for Covid. Home hot pot has now turned into our fun date night tradition on Friday’s where we eat together for a few hours while talking. Here’s our list of ingredients we like if anyone is curious. Would love to hear other recommendations to try too: King oyster mushrooms, Shitaki mushrooms, Tofu skin dried, Frozen bean curd rolls frozen, Fried tofu, Bean curd nuggets, Choripdong Oriental Style Noodles, Bok Choy, Broccoli, Corn on cob, Lotus root, Beef (thin sliced), Shrimp Part of the fun is plating the ingredients before eating and working on our presentation skills together. It’s really rewarding when we can make it look like they do at the restaurant. After some trial and error, we also recommend the Little Lamb broths. They comes in different spice levels and taste just like the restaurant. All you need to do is add six cups of water: https://www.amazon.com/Little-Sheep-Soup-Base-235-Grams/dp/B004XY6IPK https://www.amazon.com/Little-Sheep-Soup-Base-235-Grams/dp/B... FYI that’s not an affiliate link, I just like hot pot and wanted to share. (Edit - formatting)

pki-ask 6y ago
You can also try adding fish balls (can find at Asian supermarkets). Another is Napa cabbage - it sounds quite plain but is surprisingly good in a hot pot. Also try getting a fish based bbq sauce (it’s a Taiwanese brand), and mixing that with sesame oil, soy sauce, chili oil, ginger/green onions/cilantro/garlic, finely chopped. For noodles, I would use udon, hands down. Lastly, adding steamed rice to the broth at the end with beaten egg to make a congee is excellent.
- panda88888 6y ago
  Do you mean this one? This is one of my favorite sauce. https://www.99ranch.com/zh-hant/shop/condiments_and_spices/seasoning/bullhead_barbecue_sauce/p/5526813 https://www.99ranch.com/zh-hant/shop/condiments_and_spices/s...
- andygcook 6y ago
  We bought some fish balls, but they weren’t great. Need to experiment with others or better yet, make our own.

heisenzombie 6y ago

Here are Māori cooking in geothermal hot springs https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/40251/cooking-food-in-hot-springs-1901 https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/40251/cooking-food-in-ho... Obviously much more recent, but shows that when you live around a bunch of free hot water, it’s a practical cooking method.