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Is a fact that early Europeans ate sea urchins. We still do the same. Therefore, early Europeans ate also the many different red, brown, and green algae that c

Is a fact that early Europeans ate sea urchins. We still do the same. Therefore, early Europeans ate also the many different red, brown, and green algae that came in each urchin stomach. This predigested small pieces is what gives the urchins its special flavor. You can't ate one, and not the other. This does not mean that they would eat directly the same algae raw. They are a cocktail of chemicals. not easy to eat in any significant amount without processing. I can buy the idea of people eating the water lily starchy but acrid rhizomes as an emergency food in winter. Everything else is poisonous if I'm not wrong. They have narcotic properties, so another possibility is that they would chew is as a primitive painkiller for tooth decay. Red algae have a lot of chemicals also that could act as primitive cures. Modern research techniques are wonderful, but if the humans lack of the ability to include instinct, observation, logical thinking and link facts; their results will try to run wild into full gallop. They can be more a trap than a solution if not filtered by common sense.

robocat 3y ago
An easy thing for the scientists to test - check the dental plaque of people that eat a lot of Urchins e.g. Kina are popular with some people in New Zealand.
vanderZwan 3y ago
First, the article specifically says they do not know how the seaweed was prepared, so I'm not sure where the "eating it raw" is coming from. Second, we also still eat seaweed, as many other comments here point out (most of the comments are from the British Isles, so I'll add one that is also available in the Netherlands, where I'm from: salicorna, or "zeekraal"). I'd also like to note that I have never heard of any dish involving sea urchins. I'm sure they exist in the cuisine that you are familiar with, but I'm just mentioning this to point out that you do not speak for the culture of the entire European continent. With that in mind, I find it rather odd to conclude that it is more likely that the measured seaweed molecules in teeth of ancient humans came from sea urchin stomachs than from seaweed directly. It does not pass Ockham's Razor.
- pvaldes 3y ago
  > I'd also like to note that I have never heard of any dish involving sea urchins. > I'm sure they exist in the cuisine that you are familiar with You may have heard about a small place called the Mediterranean. not a place really relevant for European culture if we except three or four empires that shaped the history of the humanity. Every country touched by the Greeks or Roma knows how sea urchins taste. You could find them easily [1] in coastal areas of Greece, Spain, Morocco, Lybia, Egypt, France, Italy, Portugal, Cyprus... probably also Ireland. I bet that a lot of Asian and American countries have heard of it also by their own means. Japanese pay astronomical prices for them. [1] If you know where to look for Guess the reason why so many people eat them.

robocat 3y ago

An easy thing for the scientists to test - check the dental plaque of people that eat a lot of Urchins e.g. Kina are popular with some people in New Zealand.

vanderZwan 3y ago

First, the article specifically says they do not know how the seaweed was prepared, so I'm not sure where the "eating it raw" is coming from. Second, we also still eat seaweed, as many other comments here point out (most of the comments are from the British Isles, so I'll add one that is also available in the Netherlands, where I'm from: salicorna, or "zeekraal"). I'd also like to note that I have never heard of any dish involving sea urchins. I'm sure they exist in the cuisine that you are familiar with, but I'm just mentioning this to point out that you do not speak for the culture of the entire European continent. With that in mind, I find it rather odd to conclude that it is more likely that the measured seaweed molecules in teeth of ancient humans came from sea urchin stomachs than from seaweed directly. It does not pass Ockham's Razor.

pvaldes 3y ago
> I'd also like to note that I have never heard of any dish involving sea urchins. > I'm sure they exist in the cuisine that you are familiar with You may have heard about a small place called the Mediterranean. not a place really relevant for European culture if we except three or four empires that shaped the history of the humanity. Every country touched by the Greeks or Roma knows how sea urchins taste. You could find them easily [1] in coastal areas of Greece, Spain, Morocco, Lybia, Egypt, France, Italy, Portugal, Cyprus... probably also Ireland. I bet that a lot of Asian and American countries have heard of it also by their own means. Japanese pay astronomical prices for them. [1] If you know where to look for Guess the reason why so many people eat them.