Sunday, June 29, 2014

Does Civilization Begin With Cooking, or Marriage?

For our annual alumni study group this summer we are reading Michael Pollan's Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation.  He offers the theory, advanced by many, that culture begins with cooking - specifically, with roasting meat.

I have long taught in my "Family Life" class that turning men into husbands and fathers is the first great act of civilization.

Just on first glance, I think my 'first act' comes first.

I also think that seeing cooking meat as the first act of culture is a more masculine view, while seeing marriage as coming first is a more feminine view.

This is a three-quarters-formed thought, but worth pursuing.

2 comments:

ceemac said...

What are you reading in your Theory Camp this year?

Gruntled said...

Alas, Theory Camp was displaced by helping lead the Brown Fellows to France. The two times just overlapped too much. But this displacement is temporary.