Was meat-eating essential for human evolution?

[Andyba]

There is yet another theory that not meat but cooking - in particular, cooking tubers - sparked a crucial turning point in human evolution.

[fresherthanlife]

Early humans did lots of things we don't (and shouldn't) carry on today...like, for example, mating with their own children/siblings, sleeping in their own waste, etc.

[TarekF]

To add a bit to the discussion I thought i'd link a post from PaleoVeganology, a blog I follow of a vegan anthropology student.

In this article he takes down the common hypothesis in favor of "meat made us smart". He also links us to a paper in nature which refutes the "expensive tissue hypothesis". Both are well written and fascinating.

http://paleovegan.blogspot.com/2011/...ve-tissue.html

Unfortunately you need a subscription to view the nature article

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal...ture10629.html

I would definitely recommend the blog though, everything on there is interesting and intellectually rigorous, not to mention quite unbiased.