Ok – I’ve had my fun with evolution (yes we can still keep going with the comment chain if you want) it would not have been an authentic ‘Atheist Encounter’ If I didn’t play the evolution card would it?
But evolution just isn’t the core of who I am – I loved that part of biology, but I was always more interested in the things alive around me now than what came before – although that stuff does help with context.
How do people figure out that some things are good to eat?
The coffee cherry, while nice and colourful is hardly the stuff a great feed is made of – and the green beans are not much better – bitter, hard – little nutrition. But roast them! ohhhhhhhh baby. Ok – still no nutrition but who cares!
Olives – again really nasty little buggers and they take some considerable processing before you can eat them but they are amazing when its done right. My theory is the ‘olives fell in the sea’ theory. The greeks still bruise them and place them in baskets in the sea to steep for a week or two as a method of processing.
There must be a bunch of other foods like this that require a committment in time and energy to get edible but figuring it all out in the first place was quite some job.
Civet cats eat coffee cherries and then crap out coffee seeds – ‘Kopi Luwak’ and very expensive coffee it is too!
Today I am experimenting with cold process coffee. This is a method of making coffee that takes up to 12 hours but results in a low acid full body coffee that can be kept as a base for hot or iced coffee for up to 5 days.
I’ll let you know tonight how it goes and post up my method. The key to all great coffee though is fresh beans and roasting your own coffee is the best way to be sure they are fresh. Home roasting is growing in popularity in Australia because people are learning more about coffee and are approaching it with a great deal more respect than in the past. This is a general trend in food – organic produce is another example of this.
I think its a great trend – we should pay attention to what we eat, where it comes from, and how it was produced. That is part of our respect for each other and for our environment – I’d also suggest that for a Christian this should be a core part of acting on beliefs because it would be good stewardship of resources.
From an athiest’s perspective it is also good stewardship – but within a slightly altered context.