From Nick Hines at VinePair, on why we like to drink alcohol:
The theory was originally put forth by Robert Dudley, a professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley, in a 2000 article called “Evolutionary origins of human alcoholism in primate frugivory.” The hypothesis proposes that apes and early humans evolved to seek out ethyl alcohol because it led them to food. These early primates are known as frugivores, referring to their preference for fruit over any other food. But in order to locate that desirable fruit and those crucial calories, frugivores couldn’t just hit the local Whole Foods. They had to rely on their sense of smell. And one thing that routinely led them to fruit was the smell of alcohol.
…
It was on the veranda, cocktail in hand, that he came up with the theory. “I remember thinking once, ‘What is it about humans and alcohol, and this triangle of monkeys, fruit and alcohol fermentation? Maybe it is just an ancestral association of fruit-eating with alcohol production by yeast.’ Then, my immediate next thought, which I remember even more clearly, was that this is a real simple and obvious idea.” More.
Alcoholism has, according to the hypothesis, little to do with thousands of years of culture or emotional or biochemical dependency. That’s the thing about evolutionary psychology. It simplifies everything.
Actually it doesn’t matter because this thesis probably has the good sense not to be serious. Many dull dweebenprofs could not say that. 😉
Also, eating fruit led to us having bigger brains? (Now we need to figure out why vast numbers of other fruit eaters did not develop bigger brains.)
But wait! Didn’t eating meat lead to bigger brains? So the ideal brain food is steak and strawberries? Yes, many of us have always thought so.
See also: Human/primate evolution: Eating fruit led to bigger brains?
Eating meat and early weaning explains humans’ evolutionary success – researchers
and
“The evolutionary psychologist knows why you vote — and shop, and tip at restaurants”
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