I think people would have a better connection to nature if they did these things more often. But cooking and eating is sort of an umbrella activity for all of

I think people would have a better connection to nature if they did these things more often. But cooking and eating is sort of an umbrella activity for all of those - everyone in the village/tribe/etc. has to eat, and usually they’d come together in one place to do so. Farming or searching for water don’t have the same centralizing social effect.