Your body covers the energy overhead to break down food into usable energy supply, ideally ending with a net positive. Warmer food presumably makes the digestio

Your body covers the energy overhead to break down food into usable energy supply, ideally ending with a net positive. Warmer food presumably makes the digestion a little less costly. Cooked meat is definitely more rewarding (energy-wise) than raw meat (because it costs less to digest), so maybe warm food is a heuristic for cooked food as well.