When we think about the innumerable choices that we have today (organic, vegetarian, vegan, raw, cooked, fast food and so on) in terms of food, it is hard to even imagine the times when this was not at all the case. We can say that we are part of a lucky generation.
But what about our ancestors?
What about the first human beings that lived on this Earth in the beginning of time?
These prehistoric individuals (called like this to mark the fact that they lived before the first written records) did not enjoy such a diversity in their menus, but they definitely had what they needed.
This period generally known as “prehistory” is actually divided into three different ages: Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. Each of them spans over thousands of years and has its own particularities, but this article will focus mainly on what a man would eat during the Stone Age.
It is believed that, in this period, a normal diet consisted of fruits, greens and vegetables, fish and seafood, meat, nuts and insects.
It was discovered that honey was also a much appreciated food in that period. There is a significant painting within a cave in Spain (La Cueve de la Arana) which portrays a human being who appears to be collecting honey from a nest surrounded by bees; the painting is believed to date back to the period of the Stone Age and, more precisely, to the end of the Paleolithic Period.
A major change in a Stone Age man’s diet was given by the wide usage of fire. Although scientists do not agree upon the exact moment when fire began to be used for cooking, it is believed that the benefits of eating cooked meat were discovered by accident.
Anyway, this marks a new stage in the evolution of the human beings in general (with many scientists trying to prove that the nutrients taken from cooked meat contributed to the development of the human brain). Meat and animal products are believed to have represented about two-thirds of a person’s diet.
Plants and fruits were also important in their diet. Evidence shows that, long before the agricultural stage began, different comestible fruits and vegetables were available in large quantities. Surprisingly or not, many fruits and greens that we eat today were also frequent during the Stone Age, but their aspect was completely different. Grapes, oranges, apples, berries, pears, plums, olives, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, broccoli and kale are among the vegetarian foods of a Stone Age man from different parts of the world. Studies show that these foods represented about one-third of the prehistoric man’s diet.
With many persons considering that it was only in those moments when human beings were eating right and only the foods that they were supposed to eat, today we have many diets (such as Paleo Diet or Low Carb Diet) which try to teach us that only by going back to what our ancestors ate, will we maintain a healthy body and mind.
Thus, some of the products that they recommend for a daily diet are meat (non-processed, fresh meat like Licious), seafood, vegetables, fruits, roots, seeds and, in general, everything that is 100% natural.