Allison Burbach (11/15): Food Skepticism

During the 11/15 class discussion of food, we talked about how humans have confliction over the food we eat but animals do not. There are many differences between humans and animals regarding food, however, I see one big similarity. Both humans and animals are skeptical about food and water safety. I have a cat who always has a water bowl available to drink from, but she always begs for the sink to be turned on to drink from. It is a natural instinct for my cat to not drink from a standing puddle of water because running water will always be the safer bet. If she was in the wild, a dirty puddle of water would threaten her life. Similar to her food, my cat will not eat her canned food if it has been sitting out for a while because, in the wild, a long dead animal quickly can become dangerous. 

As humans, we do the same thing with our food and water. We both consciously and subconsciously know that food left out or sitting in the fridge for too long poses a safety threat. How many times have you done the “smell test” and decided you were too hesitant of the smell that you threw the food away? Humans and animals have only survived natural selection pressures if they decided to throw away the food instead of taking the gamble. Animals have the same confliction over food safety as humans.