1 00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:07,840 Speaker 1: Hey, you welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. My 2 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:11,080 Speaker 1: name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. We're off 3 00:00:11,119 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: this week, so we are bringing you a vault episode. 4 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:17,160 Speaker 1: This is the Invention of the Spoon Part one. You 5 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:19,520 Speaker 1: wouldn't think you could really talk about the invention of 6 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:21,599 Speaker 1: the spoon, but theyre turned out to be much more 7 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 1: to say than you might expect. Yeah, quite a bit. 8 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:27,920 Speaker 1: Uh So this is a fun one. Hopefully this will 9 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:34,400 Speaker 1: change your relationship with your spoon. Welcome to stot to 10 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:44,000 Speaker 1: Blow Your Mind, production of My Heart Radio. Hey, welcome 11 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:45,880 Speaker 1: to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. My name is Robert 12 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:49,120 Speaker 1: Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. And today we're gonna be 13 00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:52,160 Speaker 1: talking about an invention. Rob I think this will be 14 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:55,560 Speaker 1: in the tradition of our episode on chopsticks that we 15 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:57,280 Speaker 1: did a while back. Why is it that you so 16 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:01,840 Speaker 1: often suggest discussing the invention of a of a device 17 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:05,640 Speaker 1: with no moving parts that is used to eat. I 18 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:08,400 Speaker 1: don't know, like part of it, Mainly like in this case, 19 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:11,800 Speaker 1: I was looking at another topic and I kind of 20 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:13,600 Speaker 1: hit a wall on it, and I was like, oh man, 21 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:16,840 Speaker 1: I'm not excited about this topic. Anymore. And um, and 22 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:18,800 Speaker 1: then I don't know, you kind of like you think 23 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:22,319 Speaker 1: to yourself, well, what's something smaller, What's something that couldn't 24 00:01:22,319 --> 00:01:26,119 Speaker 1: possibly hurt me? And you realize the spoon. It's right there, 25 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:28,720 Speaker 1: it's in the drawer. I love spoons or you know, 26 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:31,080 Speaker 1: in previous case, chopsticks. And I know they've got to 27 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:32,920 Speaker 1: be a fascinating history. You know, it's like one of 28 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:36,200 Speaker 1: some of these inventions that are, you know, so ancient. 29 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:38,600 Speaker 1: We're not going to pick out the individual that invented 30 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:41,440 Speaker 1: these things or anything like that, but it is fascinating 31 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:45,360 Speaker 1: how they move through human civilizations. Oh so I understand 32 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 1: the spoon was your stay puffed marshmallow man. You were 33 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:51,200 Speaker 1: trying to think of something so innocent and good that 34 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:54,200 Speaker 1: it could never hurt anyone. And and this is where 35 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:57,480 Speaker 1: we came to. But I I was I was surprised, 36 00:01:57,480 --> 00:01:59,640 Speaker 1: as I always am, because I think we found some 37 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:02,680 Speaker 1: pretty interesting stuff about the invention of the spoon. Yeah, 38 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:04,360 Speaker 1: like if you if you think you know the spoon, 39 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:07,480 Speaker 1: if you think spoons are boring, well then um, we'll 40 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:10,320 Speaker 1: stay tuned because there's there's some cool stuff. Uh. And 41 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:13,399 Speaker 1: and also you know, when you really stop to think 42 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:15,839 Speaker 1: about it and you really sort of start to consider it. Yeah, 43 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:19,359 Speaker 1: it does get quite uh quite quite fascinating. As as B. 44 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:22,600 Speaker 1: Wilson pointed out in an Atlantic article, that will come 45 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 1: back to what your spoon says about you. From There 46 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:30,280 Speaker 1: are foreign cultures, there are chopstick cultures. But every culture 47 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 1: is a spoon culture. And of course it's not just 48 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:35,040 Speaker 1: not just one type of spoon. There are a lot 49 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:37,400 Speaker 1: of different types of spoons. And I would like everyone 50 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:40,520 Speaker 1: out there to try and just imagine a day, a 51 00:02:40,639 --> 00:02:45,120 Speaker 1: day in your life without access to any sort of spoon. Okay, 52 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:47,000 Speaker 1: so you're up in the morning, you're trying to get 53 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:50,120 Speaker 1: ready for work. Uh, you make your coffee and maybe 54 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:52,560 Speaker 1: you add some cream deer coffee. But what do you do, Well, 55 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:54,680 Speaker 1: you stick your finger in and burn it as you 56 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:57,840 Speaker 1: stir it around. And then after that you got some oatmeal. 57 00:02:57,919 --> 00:02:59,720 Speaker 1: But how are you gonna get that oatmeal in your mouth? Well, 58 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:02,160 Speaker 1: you're just reaching in with your fingertips and shoving it 59 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:04,560 Speaker 1: in there, and that's gonna be crusty later on, but 60 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:07,320 Speaker 1: you're in a hurry, uh, And then it goes on 61 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:09,520 Speaker 1: from there. Yeah, I mean, even going back to the 62 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:12,800 Speaker 1: coffee like all right, you're you're you're gonna good coffee 63 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:16,359 Speaker 1: grounds and put them into your coffee brewing device or 64 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:19,640 Speaker 1: or or or vessel. How are you going to measure 65 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:21,520 Speaker 1: that stuff out? You know, now some of this we're 66 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:23,600 Speaker 1: getting into the distinction of what is a what is 67 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:26,400 Speaker 1: a scoop, what is a cup, what is a spoon? 68 00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:29,880 Speaker 1: But essentially, like spoons are are a way that we 69 00:03:29,919 --> 00:03:32,760 Speaker 1: measure stuff as well, we'll get into that. So imagine yourself. 70 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:34,240 Speaker 1: You know, you're just gonna have to make that kind 71 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:38,320 Speaker 1: of like rough Rugger hour coffee in the morning where 72 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:40,640 Speaker 1: you're not really you're not really putting a lot of 73 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:42,640 Speaker 1: thought into it, just throwing it in there, then putting 74 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 1: some boiling water and then just let the cream fall 75 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:50,400 Speaker 1: where it will depraved. Now, for my part, I often 76 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:53,200 Speaker 1: play a kind of game in the morning. So I 77 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:55,200 Speaker 1: get up, I make my coffee. Sometimes I get to 78 00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:58,120 Speaker 1: finish watching part of a of a movie for Weird 79 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:00,840 Speaker 1: House or something, uh, and then every body else gets up, 80 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:03,000 Speaker 1: we do what we do breakfast, and at some point 81 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:05,920 Speaker 1: I uh, I either unloved the dishwasher or I help 82 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:09,760 Speaker 1: unlove the dishwasher. And for a long time, uh, now 83 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 1: I've been playing this kind of game in my head, 84 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:16,320 Speaker 1: um where I consider all of the various utensils and 85 00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:20,200 Speaker 1: plate types teams and the winning team is the one 86 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:23,440 Speaker 1: that managed to get the most members of their team 87 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:28,400 Speaker 1: into the dishwasher the previous day. Um so, so I've 88 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:30,800 Speaker 1: I've since told my family about this. My son gets 89 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:32,760 Speaker 1: in on the on the fund too. Now you know, 90 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:35,919 Speaker 1: it might be a banner day for Team Fork or 91 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:39,720 Speaker 1: Team butter Knife, for Team Ramikins. Sometimes Team Ramikins really 92 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:42,640 Speaker 1: really cleans it up for those the days where you 93 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:45,400 Speaker 1: have executed a good mies on plus while making dinner, 94 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:47,720 Speaker 1: all right, we used we end up using Ramicans for 95 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:49,159 Speaker 1: a lot of different things. So it's like you know, 96 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:52,720 Speaker 1: puddings and or snack mix. You know you don't want 97 00:04:52,760 --> 00:04:53,840 Speaker 1: to eat right out of the bag, you put it 98 00:04:53,839 --> 00:04:55,800 Speaker 1: into the Ramikins. So there are days when the when 99 00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:58,680 Speaker 1: the Ramikan team does goes quite well. But my my 100 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:01,120 Speaker 1: favorite team and the team that seems to win the 101 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:04,240 Speaker 1: most is of course Team Spoon. Uh. And there are 102 00:05:04,279 --> 00:05:06,080 Speaker 1: days where just the three of us we managed to 103 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:08,680 Speaker 1: use not only all the all the big spoons and 104 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:13,080 Speaker 1: all the little spoons, but also say both grapefruit spoons, 105 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:15,400 Speaker 1: the weird sugar spoon that we don't actually use because 106 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:19,560 Speaker 1: we don't use a like a sugar um caddy thing 107 00:05:20,279 --> 00:05:22,400 Speaker 1: or and also the odd spoon that's in the drawer 108 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:24,720 Speaker 1: that doesn't match anything else, that's like left over some 109 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:28,359 Speaker 1: from from some other set or something. Um, so nobody's 110 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 1: left on the bench for team spoon. Everybody's in the 111 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:33,400 Speaker 1: game and they win. This is like one of those 112 00:05:33,440 --> 00:05:36,880 Speaker 1: big tag team matches where suddenly everybody ends up in 113 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:40,200 Speaker 1: the ring. They're all pouring out. Yeah. Yeah, the serving spoons, 114 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:43,840 Speaker 1: wooden cooking spoons, you name it. So yeah, it's it's 115 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:45,960 Speaker 1: it's really hard for me to imagine a day without 116 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:48,880 Speaker 1: using spoons. I don't even know. I don't even want 117 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:51,320 Speaker 1: to tell people to take the no spoon challenge and 118 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:53,039 Speaker 1: tell us how it goes, because it just it doesn't 119 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:55,920 Speaker 1: sound fun. So really, just think of all the things 120 00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:01,799 Speaker 1: we use a spoon four so mixing, stirring, measuring, serving, eating, 121 00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:04,640 Speaker 1: and and just think of all the foods they work 122 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:06,920 Speaker 1: well with. I feel like I can depend on the 123 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:10,719 Speaker 1: spoon for just about everything, with occasional use of chopsticks 124 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:15,000 Speaker 1: as well, but I rarely use a fork. Um and 125 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:16,359 Speaker 1: part of it is my you know, I don't know, 126 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:17,840 Speaker 1: I've gotten to where I kind of think of the 127 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 1: fork is maybe just two pointy and maybe too violent. 128 00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:24,680 Speaker 1: But but but I just rarely need one. If I'm 129 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:26,480 Speaker 1: going to depend on the spoon. The spoon can do 130 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:29,200 Speaker 1: pretty much everything the fork can and if it if 131 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:31,599 Speaker 1: it can't, then I've got the chopsticks to depend on. Yeah, 132 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:33,960 Speaker 1: I mean, I guess it depends largely on what kinds 133 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:35,760 Speaker 1: of foods you eat the most in your house. But 134 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:39,240 Speaker 1: we're the same way we Uh. I'd say probably at 135 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:43,760 Speaker 1: least three quarters of our meals involve either a spoon, chopsticks, 136 00:06:43,839 --> 00:06:46,800 Speaker 1: or both, but probably only maybe one in four involves 137 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:52,880 Speaker 1: a fork. So, in keeping with past invention episodes, uh, 138 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:56,400 Speaker 1: let's start where we always start, what came before, what 139 00:06:56,600 --> 00:07:02,760 Speaker 1: came before the spoon? Well, obviously eating with one's fingers, right, well, yes, 140 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:07,120 Speaker 1: uh uh, And you know for that, for further exploration 141 00:07:07,160 --> 00:07:09,760 Speaker 1: of that, we of course can look at some examples 142 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:13,640 Speaker 1: from our primate cousins. So, first of all, in addition 143 00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:15,520 Speaker 1: to just sort of like sticking your hands and things 144 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:18,559 Speaker 1: and licking things off your fingers, uh, there's of course 145 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:23,400 Speaker 1: using cupped hands, especially for liquids, for things like water. Um, 146 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:27,720 Speaker 1: these of course allow even modern humans to form a 147 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:30,520 Speaker 1: cup or a bowl out of their own body. But 148 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:32,640 Speaker 1: there's a there's a there's a lot of stuff. Expoons 149 00:07:32,680 --> 00:07:35,679 Speaker 1: have been around so long. Uh that. Yeah, oftentimes they're mundane, 150 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:38,960 Speaker 1: but sometimes there's stuff, uh their uses of it that 151 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:41,960 Speaker 1: are maybe a little more insightful. For instance, in Jewish tradition, 152 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:45,200 Speaker 1: there's the the allegory of the long spoons. Yeah, this 153 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:47,720 Speaker 1: is a story that's that gets told in sort of 154 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:50,240 Speaker 1: sermons and religious teaching a lot. I think it's Actually 155 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:52,800 Speaker 1: I was looking around and I don't think anyone, as 156 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:55,640 Speaker 1: far as I could tell, has identified a certain origin 157 00:07:55,760 --> 00:07:57,440 Speaker 1: of this story. There seemed to be a lot of 158 00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:02,080 Speaker 1: cultural variations, including a Chinese verse gen that that references chopsticks, 159 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:05,000 Speaker 1: and then versions of the reference spoons. Actually, I think 160 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:07,080 Speaker 1: I should tell the other version of it first because 161 00:08:07,080 --> 00:08:10,200 Speaker 1: it makes more sense. So, uh So, the version I 162 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:12,760 Speaker 1: read was that a you know, a teacher comes up 163 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:16,120 Speaker 1: to his rabbi and says, Rabbi, tell me the difference 164 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:19,400 Speaker 1: between heaven and Hell, and the Rabbi says, well, at 165 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:22,720 Speaker 1: at in both heaven and hell, everyone is seated at 166 00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:25,000 Speaker 1: a at a great table for a feast, and there 167 00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:27,680 Speaker 1: is plenty of delicious food out in front of them, 168 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:31,360 Speaker 1: you know, steaming bowls of delicious stew. But in both 169 00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:35,880 Speaker 1: Heaven and Hell, people cannot bend their arms at the elbow. 170 00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:40,400 Speaker 1: And yet while that means everyone in Hell starves because 171 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:43,199 Speaker 1: they can't bring the food up to their lips, everyone 172 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:46,960 Speaker 1: in Heaven is sated because they don't try to feed themselves. 173 00:08:47,040 --> 00:08:50,960 Speaker 1: They feed each other. And then a variation on this 174 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:53,840 Speaker 1: story is that instead of being unable to bend your 175 00:08:53,920 --> 00:08:56,880 Speaker 1: arms at the elbow, uh, the only utensils are very 176 00:08:56,960 --> 00:08:59,640 Speaker 1: long utensils that make it difficuent. So you like can't 177 00:08:59,679 --> 00:09:02,000 Speaker 1: feed self, but you could feed somebody else. So a 178 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:04,280 Speaker 1: long spoon would be I guess one that's hard to 179 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:08,280 Speaker 1: used to get up to your own face. Okay, well, 180 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:10,120 Speaker 1: I see the point they're making, But also just the 181 00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:13,000 Speaker 1: idea of being like a Star Wars action figure uh 182 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:15,080 Speaker 1: in in the afterlife and not being able to move 183 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:19,280 Speaker 1: your your your your arms having only like one point 184 00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:23,959 Speaker 1: of articulation. Maybe too, that does sound like torment. I mean, 185 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:25,960 Speaker 1: I think the point that's trying to make is maybe 186 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:29,080 Speaker 1: not literally supposed to be about heaven and hell, but 187 00:09:29,080 --> 00:09:31,960 Speaker 1: but about how uh you know, the kind of Ebenezer 188 00:09:32,040 --> 00:09:35,600 Speaker 1: Scrooge concept that a person who is selfish creates a 189 00:09:35,679 --> 00:09:39,000 Speaker 1: hell of their own making by their continued inability to 190 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:42,040 Speaker 1: to think of other people. Right right, yeah, But put 191 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:44,839 Speaker 1: enough miserable people in one place, in that place will 192 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:47,960 Speaker 1: become a place of misery just by virtue of their 193 00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:51,240 Speaker 1: their personalities. But I guess one thing that that does 194 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:53,720 Speaker 1: highlight is that maybe a lot of times we don't 195 00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:58,040 Speaker 1: appreciate enough the minute physical features of a spoon and 196 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:01,240 Speaker 1: how much difference that makes and how use able it is. Uh, 197 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:03,440 Speaker 1: this makes me think at least about how hard it 198 00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:05,800 Speaker 1: is to eat with a spoon that is just slightly 199 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:09,040 Speaker 1: too big, you know, Like that's another thing we don't 200 00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:11,360 Speaker 1: often think about. So a spoon, of course, when used 201 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:14,120 Speaker 1: as an eating utensil, as a means of conveyance, you know, 202 00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:16,559 Speaker 1: it gets the food from the plate of the bowl 203 00:10:16,679 --> 00:10:20,199 Speaker 1: into your mouth. But it's not just any means of conveyance. 204 00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:24,079 Speaker 1: It's also in effect a measuring device. It measures out 205 00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:28,200 Speaker 1: an appropriately sized bite of food or you know, quantity 206 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:30,720 Speaker 1: of food to fit in your mouth at one time. 207 00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:33,360 Speaker 1: And so a spoon it's too small or spoon that's 208 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:38,080 Speaker 1: too big is actually very weird and frustrating to eat with. Yeah, yeah, 209 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:41,120 Speaker 1: it's well, we'll keep coming back to this. But when 210 00:10:41,160 --> 00:10:44,920 Speaker 1: you think about a given spoon design, the spoon is 211 00:10:45,559 --> 00:10:49,680 Speaker 1: it's it's design is going to be influenced by what 212 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:53,000 Speaker 1: sorts of foods it is it was designed to deal with. 213 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:55,679 Speaker 1: But then also its design is going to have an 214 00:10:55,679 --> 00:10:59,280 Speaker 1: impact on how you eat and like in terms of 215 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:00,839 Speaker 1: like how much you're tempting to put in your mouth 216 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:03,640 Speaker 1: at one time, but also how you hold the spoon 217 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:06,800 Speaker 1: and therefore how you carry yourself, uh like, you know, 218 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:10,280 Speaker 1: socially and and and mannerally at the dinner table or 219 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:13,080 Speaker 1: wherever you happen to be eating. So it's you know, 220 00:11:13,160 --> 00:11:16,360 Speaker 1: it's it's this thing that that that has a has 221 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:18,560 Speaker 1: a big impact on the way we behave and the 222 00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:21,440 Speaker 1: way we we consume, even if we just think of it. 223 00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:25,320 Speaker 1: It's this this often disposable item, uh that comes with 224 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:28,000 Speaker 1: the meal. You know. Looking at this topic made me wonder, 225 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:32,320 Speaker 1: are there any studies looking at the psychological effects of 226 00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:36,760 Speaker 1: eating directly with the hands versus using utensils. I'm sure 227 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:39,080 Speaker 1: somebody must have looked at that I found at least 228 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:41,839 Speaker 1: one study. I probably wouldn't hang too much on this 229 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:45,120 Speaker 1: one result, but but it it did seem interesting. So 230 00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:48,559 Speaker 1: this was a paper published in the Journal of Retailing, 231 00:11:48,679 --> 00:11:51,120 Speaker 1: so not like a psychology journal but like a business 232 00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:56,360 Speaker 1: journal by Adriana V. Majurov, called self Control and Touch. 233 00:11:56,520 --> 00:12:00,720 Speaker 1: When does direct versus indirect touch increase hedonic of evaluations 234 00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:03,760 Speaker 1: and consumption of food? And the short version of what 235 00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:08,120 Speaker 1: the study found is that among people who apply self 236 00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:11,960 Speaker 1: control during food consumption. So I think this is especially 237 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:14,320 Speaker 1: people who are being careful, people who are watching what 238 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:16,439 Speaker 1: they eat. I don't know if the same would apply 239 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:18,400 Speaker 1: to people who are just, you know, just kind of 240 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:21,480 Speaker 1: shoveling it in there. But among people who show high 241 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:25,640 Speaker 1: self control when eating food, touching food directly with the 242 00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:32,640 Speaker 1: hands enhances the sensory experience and increases hedonic evaluations of food. 243 00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:36,600 Speaker 1: So people who eat with their fingers directly versus eating 244 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:40,120 Speaker 1: the same food with the spoon report finding that food 245 00:12:40,280 --> 00:12:45,240 Speaker 1: more pleasurable to eat and they eat more of it. Mhm, well, 246 00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:47,680 Speaker 1: that's interesting. It almost makes me wonder if there could 247 00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:51,240 Speaker 1: be a kind of small role for the spoon and 248 00:12:51,320 --> 00:12:54,640 Speaker 1: other utensils in the evolution of of human food and 249 00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:59,400 Speaker 1: cuisine and culture in uh, tempering the appetite like sort 250 00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:01,640 Speaker 1: of making hold back a bit, and how much you 251 00:13:01,679 --> 00:13:05,200 Speaker 1: eat in anyone sitting Huh. That is yeah, I had 252 00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:07,000 Speaker 1: not really thought about that. But then, like you said, 253 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:09,120 Speaker 1: this is just one study, and of course it raises 254 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:14,200 Speaker 1: the raises the point um that we have various food 255 00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:16,880 Speaker 1: cultures around the world, and some of them are more 256 00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:21,520 Speaker 1: inherently based on eating with hands versus eating with utensils, 257 00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:24,800 Speaker 1: And like, you know, this kind of broad statement, how 258 00:13:24,840 --> 00:13:27,960 Speaker 1: does that apply to like this cuisine, this food culture 259 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:31,120 Speaker 1: versus this one, Like it could be where it's like, oh, well, 260 00:13:31,120 --> 00:13:34,200 Speaker 1: I just I've never stopped to touch chili before, but 261 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:37,000 Speaker 1: now when I'm eating chili with my hands, yes, I 262 00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:42,400 Speaker 1: suddenly feel far more hedonic. Uh. I don't know. Well, 263 00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:45,280 Speaker 1: to whatever extent this is generally applicable. If it is, 264 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:48,240 Speaker 1: I think it would, you'd have to confine at least 265 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:51,200 Speaker 1: this result to foods that could be eaten either way, right, 266 00:13:51,240 --> 00:13:53,800 Speaker 1: because a lot of foods you you basically can't eat 267 00:13:53,840 --> 00:13:56,400 Speaker 1: them except with the spoon, I guess maybe slurping from 268 00:13:56,400 --> 00:13:58,880 Speaker 1: a bowl. You know, soups and porridges and stuff which 269 00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:02,680 Speaker 1: are we should remember a huge portion of all the 270 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:05,280 Speaker 1: foods that humans have eaten throughout history of a lot 271 00:14:05,320 --> 00:14:09,680 Speaker 1: of foods are liquid based. All right, well, let's let's 272 00:14:09,679 --> 00:14:11,559 Speaker 1: back up just a little bit and uh and consider 273 00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:16,200 Speaker 1: primates again. So we're talking about hands coming together and 274 00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:20,320 Speaker 1: forming natural cups or natural spoons again, we can, we 275 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:22,240 Speaker 1: can kind of the terminology kind of breaks down when 276 00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:25,520 Speaker 1: you're dealing with the like the pre spoon approaches to 277 00:14:25,600 --> 00:14:29,280 Speaker 1: this to the same functions. But I was reading about 278 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:31,960 Speaker 1: this in an article. This is a nat geo from 279 00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:34,840 Speaker 1: Liz Langley called Meet the Beatles that harvest fog in 280 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:38,080 Speaker 1: the Desert and uh. The author mentions a few different 281 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:41,600 Speaker 1: examples of curious things that animals do to get to 282 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:44,400 Speaker 1: get their their food or their their liquids. And they 283 00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:48,760 Speaker 1: mentioned that, uh that Southeast Asian gibbons drink water through 284 00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:53,440 Speaker 1: cupped hands, sometimes while hanging inverted. Now, of course, the 285 00:14:53,480 --> 00:14:55,640 Speaker 1: spoon that we're using, the spoon you probably used today, 286 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:58,120 Speaker 1: it is, of course, uh, an artifact. It is a 287 00:14:58,240 --> 00:15:00,280 Speaker 1: you know, a thing that we have made out of 288 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:06,080 Speaker 1: other objects or other materials. But the step right before 289 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:09,240 Speaker 1: creating an artifact, in the words of anthropologist Window Oswald, 290 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:13,040 Speaker 1: is a nature fact, that's a naturally occurring object used 291 00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:18,240 Speaker 1: intentionally but without modification for some purpose. Uh so. Jane 292 00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:22,320 Speaker 1: Goodall actually observed chimpanzees using blades of grass as a 293 00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:25,479 Speaker 1: kind of spoon to consume termites in the nineteen sixties, 294 00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:27,680 Speaker 1: and I ran a carre Off say two thousand fifteen 295 00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:30,600 Speaker 1: paper publishing the Royal Society Open Science. They found that 296 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:32,920 Speaker 1: chimps use leaves as a kind of spoon or cup 297 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:37,960 Speaker 1: to drink alcohol seeping from palm trees, leafy shot glass, 298 00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:43,880 Speaker 1: Yeah exactly. Now. Likewise, before humans crafted the first spoons 299 00:15:44,040 --> 00:15:47,520 Speaker 1: or something, or the proto spoons, they likely used found 300 00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:50,880 Speaker 1: pieces of wood and especially shells. It's pointed out by 301 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:54,160 Speaker 1: the California Academy of Sciences, which has a page on spoons. 302 00:15:54,160 --> 00:15:57,440 Speaker 1: Both the Greek and Latin words for spoon are derived 303 00:15:57,520 --> 00:16:01,680 Speaker 1: from cochlea, meaning a spiral shaped nail shell. Uh This 304 00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:03,720 Speaker 1: may point to the origins of the spoon in Europe 305 00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:06,920 Speaker 1: at least, you know, taking taking a shell, a found 306 00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:09,760 Speaker 1: shell and using that as a spoon. And of course 307 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:12,880 Speaker 1: we see this reflected sometimes in um are more elegant 308 00:16:13,600 --> 00:16:17,520 Speaker 1: spoon designs where the spoon itself, the cup of the 309 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:19,440 Speaker 1: spoon is made, the bowl of the spoon is made 310 00:16:19,480 --> 00:16:22,880 Speaker 1: to look like a shell. Oh yeah, and I've used 311 00:16:22,920 --> 00:16:25,640 Speaker 1: a spoon like that before. I think it's some family 312 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:28,320 Speaker 1: member's house at some point. Uh. It was like a 313 00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:30,920 Speaker 1: ladle that was shaped like a like a shell that 314 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:34,040 Speaker 1: had the ridges and it was annoying to use. You 315 00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:36,240 Speaker 1: utensil nerds out there will have to let us know, 316 00:16:36,280 --> 00:16:38,560 Speaker 1: because I know that the collectors really get into the 317 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:41,160 Speaker 1: exact terminology for not only the different types of spoons 318 00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:44,560 Speaker 1: but also the styles, et cetera. But I know I've 319 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:46,280 Speaker 1: seen him before. I feel like it was used as 320 00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:49,560 Speaker 1: a as a sugar spoon or something. Um. But then 321 00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:52,920 Speaker 1: the you know, another question arises here is a shell 322 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:56,000 Speaker 1: really a spoon? Are we doing even if you take 323 00:16:56,040 --> 00:16:58,320 Speaker 1: the shell and you attach it to a stick, you know, 324 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:01,280 Speaker 1: are are we dealing with things or functions? Uh? This 325 00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:04,600 Speaker 1: is a question raised by Polish linguist Anna Versbeca of 326 00:17:04,600 --> 00:17:09,200 Speaker 1: the Australian National University in the idea of a spoon semantics, 327 00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:13,600 Speaker 1: prehistory and cultural logic in UM. And I have to say, 328 00:17:13,640 --> 00:17:16,360 Speaker 1: if you want, if you want a deep but approachable 329 00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:20,720 Speaker 1: paper on what it means to call something a spoon. Uh, 330 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:22,800 Speaker 1: then this is this. I mean, it's a really good article, 331 00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:25,880 Speaker 1: like you'll you'll know if if it that sounds laughable, 332 00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:29,359 Speaker 1: I recommend looking it up. You can find it online. Um, 333 00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:31,760 Speaker 1: it's quite enjoyable. We're not going to get into all 334 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:33,879 Speaker 1: the points that they raise, but we'll get into some 335 00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:37,199 Speaker 1: of it. Does it does it shred that matrix scene? Oh? 336 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:39,760 Speaker 1: What was the what was the spoon matrix scene? It's 337 00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:42,800 Speaker 1: been a while I haven't gotten around in my rewatch. Well, 338 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:45,360 Speaker 1: it is that there's a little boy within the matrix 339 00:17:45,359 --> 00:17:48,600 Speaker 1: who's telekinetically bending a spoon, and then Kian who tries 340 00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:51,120 Speaker 1: to do it and he fails, and the little boy 341 00:17:51,119 --> 00:17:53,399 Speaker 1: tells him the problem is that he's trying to bend 342 00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:56,320 Speaker 1: the spoon instead of realizing that, in fact, there is 343 00:17:56,400 --> 00:17:58,919 Speaker 1: no spoon. There is no spoon. Of course now I 344 00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:02,320 Speaker 1: remember it, Um, I don't. I don't think they specifically 345 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:05,040 Speaker 1: mentioned that, but I think I think it's some of 346 00:18:05,119 --> 00:18:07,879 Speaker 1: the gnostic themes of the Matrix coming through in the 347 00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:11,440 Speaker 1: idea that the true enlightenment and power comes from realizing 348 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:16,520 Speaker 1: that material reality is an illusion. Ah gotcha all right? Well, uh, 349 00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:20,600 Speaker 1: I want to read just a bit from Rebecca's article here. Quote. 350 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:23,960 Speaker 1: When the focus is on things rather than concepts, it 351 00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:27,520 Speaker 1: is indeed impossible to draw a line between spoons and 352 00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:30,800 Speaker 1: sort of spoons. There are many shades of gray between 353 00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:33,240 Speaker 1: a puritan that's the type of spoon that will discuss 354 00:18:33,480 --> 00:18:36,280 Speaker 1: later on in the episode and a shell, or between 355 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:39,240 Speaker 1: a carved spoon and a chip of wood. There is 356 00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:43,240 Speaker 1: no such shading, however, between the concept spoon and concept 357 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:46,240 Speaker 1: shell or chip of wood. The invention of the spoon, 358 00:18:46,359 --> 00:18:49,440 Speaker 1: like the invention of the wheel, is a conceptual breakthrough. 359 00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:52,639 Speaker 1: Without a clear distinction between things which are made for 360 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:56,440 Speaker 1: purpose according to a certain blueprint and things which are 361 00:18:56,480 --> 00:18:59,640 Speaker 1: merely used for a purpose with no crystallized creative idea 362 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:03,040 Speaker 1: behind them, we can hardly make any firm generalizations about 363 00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:06,479 Speaker 1: cultural history, prehistory, and the history of cooking and eating. 364 00:19:07,119 --> 00:19:09,400 Speaker 1: And then they go on to say, quote, I submit 365 00:19:09,720 --> 00:19:13,040 Speaker 1: that cultural kinds are based on complex ideas born in 366 00:19:13,040 --> 00:19:17,520 Speaker 1: individual human minds and the context of particular needs, ideas 367 00:19:17,560 --> 00:19:20,240 Speaker 1: that have caught on in certain communities and have become 368 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:24,200 Speaker 1: embedded in social practices, and that without identifying these ideas 369 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:27,560 Speaker 1: we cannot fully understand the practices based on them. And 370 00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:30,239 Speaker 1: from here they point to, you know, to a very 371 00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:32,800 Speaker 1: important consideration in the birth or invention of the spoon. 372 00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:35,720 Speaker 1: That it arises in a large part due to the 373 00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:40,240 Speaker 1: importance of soft, watery cereal based foods such as gruels 374 00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:43,480 Speaker 1: and porridges in given cultures, and so different sorts of 375 00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:46,639 Speaker 1: spoons that we find in different cultures are tied to 376 00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:49,880 Speaker 1: specific food cultures. Well, yeah, if you want to jump 377 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:52,840 Speaker 1: right into it, I could discuss some some specific evidence 378 00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:55,479 Speaker 1: on exactly that front. Yeah, why not, there there are 379 00:19:55,480 --> 00:20:04,959 Speaker 1: no rules, were just digger spoons in wherever. Alright, well, 380 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:07,040 Speaker 1: I guess that means we're gonna jump to the part 381 00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:09,240 Speaker 1: of the episode where we try to find the oldest 382 00:20:09,359 --> 00:20:12,119 Speaker 1: spoon known of uh. And and one thing that I 383 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:15,239 Speaker 1: think is worth noting is that if you're generous with 384 00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:17,720 Speaker 1: what you would call a knife in the context of 385 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:21,600 Speaker 1: culinary use, I think it's extremely clear that the knife 386 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:26,360 Speaker 1: predates the spoon. The fork doesn't, but the knife does. Well. 387 00:20:26,359 --> 00:20:28,919 Speaker 1: It makes sense, right because we've talked about the ways 388 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:31,000 Speaker 1: that the hand can do things that a spoon can do. 389 00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:33,920 Speaker 1: And uh, but but there are things that a knife 390 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:36,439 Speaker 1: can do that, the hand cannot do that, the teeth 391 00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:39,720 Speaker 1: cannot do right. Uh So, the further you go back, 392 00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:42,760 Speaker 1: the evidence gets more ambiguous. But there's no question at 393 00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:45,520 Speaker 1: all that by a few hundred thousand years ago, like 394 00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:48,640 Speaker 1: like two hundred thousand years ago, our ancestors were using 395 00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:52,080 Speaker 1: sharpened pieces of stone of often flint and other stones 396 00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:56,119 Speaker 1: that are suitable for napping to create blades. And actually 397 00:20:56,200 --> 00:20:58,800 Speaker 1: the evidence uh I was checking recently, it goes back 398 00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:02,240 Speaker 1: even farther than that sased on recent discoveries in in Africa. 399 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:05,120 Speaker 1: Um I think there is evidence of stone blades going 400 00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:08,119 Speaker 1: back at least half a million years or so from Kenya, 401 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:11,119 Speaker 1: and there might be stuff even earlier now. But probably 402 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:14,760 Speaker 1: a major one of the uses for early stone knives 403 00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:18,119 Speaker 1: was for the processing of animal carcasses. So if you 404 00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:21,080 Speaker 1: have been hunting, or you've come across a dead animal 405 00:21:21,119 --> 00:21:23,640 Speaker 1: and you're trying to strip the meat from the bones 406 00:21:24,080 --> 00:21:28,040 Speaker 1: or cut the meat into usable pieces of usable size, 407 00:21:28,359 --> 00:21:30,680 Speaker 1: a sharpened piece of stone will help you do that. 408 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:33,040 Speaker 1: So again, if you if you're generous with what counts 409 00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:36,480 Speaker 1: as a knife, knives obviously go way way back deep 410 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:41,040 Speaker 1: deep human and even uh even pre Homo sapiens, but 411 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:43,919 Speaker 1: with spoons specifically. A lot of the stuff on the internet, 412 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:46,440 Speaker 1: if you're looking around for the oldest spoons, it ends 413 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:50,000 Speaker 1: up talking about stuff from ancient Egypt or wherever, which 414 00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:52,520 Speaker 1: is very interesting and we will talk about. But you 415 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:55,399 Speaker 1: know that there must be stuff earlier than that, at 416 00:21:55,440 --> 00:21:58,080 Speaker 1: least as far back as the Neolithic. So I went 417 00:21:58,119 --> 00:22:00,400 Speaker 1: searching in the scientific literature. I was trying to find 418 00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:04,359 Speaker 1: uh an authoritative attempt at cataloging the oldest spoons in 419 00:22:04,359 --> 00:22:08,280 Speaker 1: the archaeological record, and I did come across something. There 420 00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:11,040 Speaker 1: does appear to be some ambiguity in this one too, 421 00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:14,119 Speaker 1: because there are things you can find from from the 422 00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:16,800 Speaker 1: Stone Age and you can argue is this a spoon 423 00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:19,760 Speaker 1: or not. But at some point, certainly a little bit 424 00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:23,159 Speaker 1: before the Neolithic, and then definitely during the Neolithic, we 425 00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:26,479 Speaker 1: get clear evidence of spoons. Um. So I found one 426 00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:29,760 Speaker 1: recent paper that gives a good rundown of the existing evidence. 427 00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:33,439 Speaker 1: This is a paper by Sofia Stefanovic at All called 428 00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:37,719 Speaker 1: bone Spoons for Prehistoric Babies Detection of human teeth marks 429 00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:42,040 Speaker 1: on the Neolithic artifacts from the site grod Starcevo. That 430 00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:44,920 Speaker 1: is impressive. You know, I didn't think about that. But 431 00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:48,480 Speaker 1: like feeding a baby, it's first foods. Those foods have 432 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:51,080 Speaker 1: to be well one way or another. They you know, 433 00:22:51,119 --> 00:22:52,760 Speaker 1: they have to be mashed up, they have to be 434 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:56,840 Speaker 1: soft foods. And babies, you know, they can they can 435 00:22:56,880 --> 00:22:59,720 Speaker 1: spit out and they can bite with their little gum 436 00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:02,560 Speaker 1: now so uh yeah, I could see and and and 437 00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:05,600 Speaker 1: eventually teeth. Uh yeah, anyway, go on, I'm just I'm 438 00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:07,720 Speaker 1: astounded here. I didn't think about this at all. Yeah, this, 439 00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:10,800 Speaker 1: this paper was really interesting to me. So um so 440 00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:13,480 Speaker 1: whereab I've attached a picture of some of these spoons 441 00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:17,720 Speaker 1: for you to look at for reference. They aren't spoons 442 00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:20,520 Speaker 1: like we would imagine today that have a rounded cup 443 00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:23,560 Speaker 1: area there there. They look more kind of like tiny 444 00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:29,000 Speaker 1: scoop paddles made of bone. Yeah. Yeah, now is Stefanovich 445 00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:33,840 Speaker 1: at all discuss here? The earliest solid evidence of consistent 446 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:37,200 Speaker 1: cultural spoon use pops up in the Neolithic period. Now, 447 00:23:37,280 --> 00:23:40,560 Speaker 1: remember the Neolithic period is the last part of the 448 00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:43,480 Speaker 1: Stone Age. This is still the the age and human 449 00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:47,360 Speaker 1: development where cultures are dominated by stone tools. But this 450 00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:52,359 Speaker 1: is coinciding with or after the invention of agriculture. So uh, 451 00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:55,760 Speaker 1: it's usually imagined to begin roughly twelve thousand years ago. 452 00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:58,200 Speaker 1: I think there's there's a good bit of looseness and 453 00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:01,160 Speaker 1: and how those years apply, especially depending on like what 454 00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:05,200 Speaker 1: particular region you're talking about. But roughly twelve thousand years 455 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:08,320 Speaker 1: ago or so we go into the Neolithic era, and 456 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:12,680 Speaker 1: and significantly this coincides with the invention of agriculture and 457 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:17,320 Speaker 1: the widespread use of spoons. Before the Neolithic, there is 458 00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:19,959 Speaker 1: some evidence of spoons, but in the words of the 459 00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:23,639 Speaker 1: authors here, these pre Neolithic spoons are quote rare and 460 00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:27,439 Speaker 1: isolated occurrences, and they give a few examples. One is 461 00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:31,080 Speaker 1: something cited by an archaeologist named John Nandress that was 462 00:24:31,119 --> 00:24:33,440 Speaker 1: published in the Bulletin of the Institute of Archaeology in 463 00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:36,520 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two. I could not find the full text 464 00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:39,800 Speaker 1: on this, but the citation is uh for a single 465 00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:42,800 Speaker 1: instance of an artifact from the paleolithics of the Old 466 00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:46,520 Speaker 1: Stone Age going way back that Nandrous interpreted as a 467 00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:51,199 Speaker 1: spoon made out of bone. For more solid evidence, the 468 00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:54,639 Speaker 1: authors here site quote the earliest secure find of a 469 00:24:54,760 --> 00:24:59,800 Speaker 1: pre Neolithic spoon was documented at a geometric kebaran site 470 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:04,199 Speaker 1: of Uyun al Hamam, which which was context dated to 471 00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:08,159 Speaker 1: about sixteen and a half thousand years ago or sixteen thousand, 472 00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:11,560 Speaker 1: five hundred years ago roughly. Now, I followed this up. 473 00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:13,359 Speaker 1: I went to the study they were talking about, and 474 00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:15,800 Speaker 1: this is a study by Lisa A. Mar at All 475 00:25:16,320 --> 00:25:21,600 Speaker 1: called a unique human fox burial from a pre Natufian 476 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:25,320 Speaker 1: cemetery in the Levant, Jordan's and this was published in 477 00:25:25,359 --> 00:25:28,240 Speaker 1: pl Os one in two thousand eleven. And this also 478 00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:30,240 Speaker 1: was really interesting. So this is this is one of 479 00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:33,600 Speaker 1: the earliest examples known of a spoon in the archaeological record, 480 00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:36,680 Speaker 1: and it's being attributed to what is being called here 481 00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:40,600 Speaker 1: the pre Natufian culture. Now, if you've been listening to 482 00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:42,320 Speaker 1: the show for a while and the idea of the 483 00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:46,080 Speaker 1: Natufian culture rings a bell, this is the modern name 484 00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:50,760 Speaker 1: for a late Paleolithic culture that lived in the Levant, 485 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:55,000 Speaker 1: So you think modern day Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordans 486 00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:59,080 Speaker 1: and the Natufian culture is really interesting from a historical 487 00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:05,160 Speaker 1: technological perspective because they sort of show signs of practices 488 00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:10,919 Speaker 1: that are associated with agriculture, but before the apparent invention 489 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:13,480 Speaker 1: of agriculture, So a lot of things you might think 490 00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:17,280 Speaker 1: of as as associated with agriculture like a sedentary existence, uh, 491 00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:21,080 Speaker 1: you know, remaining in one place for prolonged periods of time. 492 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:27,560 Speaker 1: Things like cemeteries and architecture and certain types of culinary innovations. 493 00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:30,040 Speaker 1: All these things we think of as associated as as 494 00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:33,720 Speaker 1: sort of stemming from the farming existence. But then the 495 00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:38,480 Speaker 1: Natufians showed some evidence of these practices before they had 496 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:41,760 Speaker 1: settled farming. So you might think of the Natufians as 497 00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:45,520 Speaker 1: sort of classic hunter gatherers who had started making a 498 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:48,080 Speaker 1: bridge to the kinds of things we see in the 499 00:26:48,119 --> 00:26:53,080 Speaker 1: sedentary agricultural lifestyle popping up in in millennia later without 500 00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:57,800 Speaker 1: technically planting crops yet, or at least not doing that much. Okay, yeah, 501 00:26:57,840 --> 00:26:59,520 Speaker 1: so yeah, it makes sense that this would be the 502 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:02,000 Speaker 1: type of people where you might find something like the spoon, 503 00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:04,840 Speaker 1: which you know, as will continue to discuss here, he 504 00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:09,600 Speaker 1: is seemingly inherently linked with you know, ultimately it's widespread 505 00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:14,760 Speaker 1: use with the with the the agricultural revolution. Right. So here, 506 00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:17,120 Speaker 1: this is another thing you might recall the reason it's 507 00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:19,480 Speaker 1: come up on the show. Before we talked about the 508 00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:23,199 Speaker 1: Natufian culture in the context of our invention episode on 509 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:27,600 Speaker 1: Bread and Toast. Remember this rob Yeah. So there was 510 00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:30,760 Speaker 1: this study that we talked about by Iran's oteg we 511 00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:34,000 Speaker 1: at all By published in Proceedings of the National Academy 512 00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:38,639 Speaker 1: of Sciences, and this was the Bread before Farming study, 513 00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:42,879 Speaker 1: which looked at evidence from Natufian cooking sites in Jordan's 514 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:46,080 Speaker 1: from about fourteen thousand years ago, so again before there 515 00:27:46,119 --> 00:27:49,680 Speaker 1: was really any signs of organized agriculture, uh, And they 516 00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:53,920 Speaker 1: found what looked like the charred remains of bread crumbs 517 00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:56,480 Speaker 1: in the cooking sites. In other words, it looks like 518 00:27:56,520 --> 00:28:01,000 Speaker 1: these people were making bread before they were planting cereal crops. 519 00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:04,640 Speaker 1: So this would have meant harvesting grain from wild grasses 520 00:28:05,119 --> 00:28:08,520 Speaker 1: and then you know, doing the culinary innovation work of 521 00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:11,879 Speaker 1: putting together these grains with other ingredients to make a 522 00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:14,199 Speaker 1: kind of bread. I think this would This would have 523 00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:17,439 Speaker 1: been iron corn wheat, which is a wild strain of 524 00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:21,320 Speaker 1: wheat grass, and then something called the roots of club 525 00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:24,040 Speaker 1: rush tubers, and then also there were some other things 526 00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:28,760 Speaker 1: mixed in the spices like mustard and trace amounts of barley. 527 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:30,680 Speaker 1: And it looks like what happened is they would make 528 00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:33,520 Speaker 1: this dough out of these grains and then cook it 529 00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:38,160 Speaker 1: on the heated stone walls lining their fire pits, which 530 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:40,280 Speaker 1: is actually kind of similar to the way that Indian 531 00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:42,480 Speaker 1: non bread is made in the walls of a tanduri 532 00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:46,800 Speaker 1: even today. So anyway, that was the context on Yeah, 533 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:50,720 Speaker 1: so Natufians apparently being grain innovators, people who are coming 534 00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:53,840 Speaker 1: up with new and potentially revolutionary ways to cook with 535 00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:57,880 Speaker 1: the grains of wild grasses. And of course that would 536 00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:00,880 Speaker 1: that would have been in me potential not only Brad, 537 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:06,280 Speaker 1: but Brad's sibling Porridges, right, exactly right. So coming back 538 00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:08,520 Speaker 1: to this two thousand eleven study by mar at All, 539 00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:11,000 Speaker 1: remember this is the one from the one called a 540 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:14,280 Speaker 1: unique human fox burial from a pre Natufian cemetery in 541 00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:16,600 Speaker 1: the Levant, and so I just want to read from 542 00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:19,800 Speaker 1: the author's abstract here so we can see what's going on. 543 00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:23,880 Speaker 1: They write, quote, new human burials from Northern Jordan's provide 544 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:28,240 Speaker 1: important insights into the appearance of cemeteries and the nature 545 00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:34,640 Speaker 1: of human animal relationships within mortuary contexts during the Epipalaeolithic period. 546 00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:37,520 Speaker 1: So this is roughly twenty three thousand years ago to 547 00:29:37,600 --> 00:29:41,000 Speaker 1: about eleven thousand, six hundred years ago. Picking up with 548 00:29:41,040 --> 00:29:45,640 Speaker 1: them in the Levant, reinforcing a socio ideological relationship that 549 00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:51,240 Speaker 1: goes beyond predator prey. Previous work suggests that archaeological features 550 00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:57,280 Speaker 1: indicative of social complexity occur suddenly during the latest Epipalaeolithic phase, 551 00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:01,600 Speaker 1: the Natufian again, that's roughly fourteen five hundred years ago 552 00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:05,320 Speaker 1: to about eleven thousand, six hundred years ago. These features 553 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:12,160 Speaker 1: include sedentism, so a subtled existence, cemeteries, architecture, food production 554 00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:18,000 Speaker 1: including animal domestication, and burials with elaborate mortuary treatments. So 555 00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:19,680 Speaker 1: I think this is what we were talking about just 556 00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:23,200 Speaker 1: a little while ago, the idea of settled existence and 557 00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:27,680 Speaker 1: showing cultural practices that we associate with with agricultural societies. 558 00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:33,120 Speaker 1: They write, Our findings from the pre Natufian Middle Epipalaeolithic 559 00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:37,840 Speaker 1: cemetery of Uyun al hamm Um demonstrate that joint human 560 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:43,360 Speaker 1: animal mortuary practices appear earlier in the Epipalaeolithic. We described 561 00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:47,040 Speaker 1: the earliest human fox burial in the Near East, where 562 00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:50,120 Speaker 1: the remains of dogs have been found associated with human 563 00:30:50,160 --> 00:30:53,360 Speaker 1: burials at a number of Natufian sites. This is the 564 00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:56,720 Speaker 1: first time that a fox has been documented in association 565 00:30:56,800 --> 00:31:00,960 Speaker 1: with human interments predating the Natufian and with a particular 566 00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:04,719 Speaker 1: suite of grave goods. Analysis of the human and animal 567 00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:08,160 Speaker 1: bones in their associated artifacts provides critical data on the 568 00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:12,200 Speaker 1: nature and timing of these newly developing relationships between people 569 00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:15,600 Speaker 1: and animals prior to the appearance of domesticated dogs in 570 00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:19,160 Speaker 1: the Natufian. Yeah, So in these graves they do find 571 00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:23,880 Speaker 1: an example of humans buried alongside a fox and coming 572 00:31:23,920 --> 00:31:27,000 Speaker 1: to the spoon. In particular, there is one of these graves, 573 00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:29,800 Speaker 1: it's Grave eight, which they say they find a spoon 574 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:34,640 Speaker 1: slash spatula that consists of quote, a tibial shaft fragment 575 00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:38,320 Speaker 1: from a red deer service a laugh us with one 576 00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:41,400 Speaker 1: end broken at a at an oblique angle and tapering 577 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:43,840 Speaker 1: to a rough point, while the other end has been 578 00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:47,480 Speaker 1: smooth to form a shallow depression. So it appears this 579 00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:50,479 Speaker 1: is one of the earliest clear indications of a spoon 580 00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:54,360 Speaker 1: in the archaeological record from this pre Natufian burial site. 581 00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:57,800 Speaker 1: And this is so interesting, Uh, something I don't know. 582 00:31:57,920 --> 00:32:00,120 Speaker 1: Sparks are going off in my brain. You might not 583 00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:02,920 Speaker 1: imagine to find these things going together, some of the 584 00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:06,000 Speaker 1: earliest clear evidence of a spoon and some of the 585 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:11,320 Speaker 1: earliest known burials of a human with a fox buddy. Yeah, yeah, 586 00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:13,440 Speaker 1: like you' attempted to try and connect the tow like 587 00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:16,840 Speaker 1: maybe spoons are helpful for feeding pat foxes. I don't know. 588 00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:20,400 Speaker 1: I mean, I in in the care of a pat, 589 00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:23,680 Speaker 1: we do find ourselves using spoons. Oh you know, I mean, 590 00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:25,880 Speaker 1: I gotta. You gotta get the food out of a 591 00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:31,160 Speaker 1: can one way or another, you gotta. I wasn't trying 592 00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:33,880 Speaker 1: to be that direct in the connection, but it does. Yeah, yeah, 593 00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:36,200 Speaker 1: I mean, I see what you're saying there. It suggests 594 00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:41,200 Speaker 1: that there's some kind of a ferment underlying both perhaps, Yeah, 595 00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:44,640 Speaker 1: but anyway, coming back to that first study, uh, Stefanovitch 596 00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:47,920 Speaker 1: at all summarizing other early evidence for spoons in the 597 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:52,240 Speaker 1: archaeological record, Stefanovitch at all right quote bone spoons were 598 00:32:52,280 --> 00:32:56,440 Speaker 1: also present in the Natufian again, that's a fourteen point 599 00:32:56,480 --> 00:32:59,640 Speaker 1: five to eleven point five thousand years ago, and in 600 00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:05,200 Speaker 1: Mesolithic Europe in the material culture of the Circumbaltic hunter gatherers. However, 601 00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:08,840 Speaker 1: the ubiquity and quantity of spoons in bone tool assemblages 602 00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:13,560 Speaker 1: significantly increases in the Neolithic period, especially in the early 603 00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:17,320 Speaker 1: Neolithic of Anatolia and the Balkans and they are primarily 604 00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:21,640 Speaker 1: a Neolithic phenomenon. So once we hit the Neolithic era, uh, 605 00:33:21,680 --> 00:33:25,080 Speaker 1: there's agriculture spreading all around where in this final stage 606 00:33:25,080 --> 00:33:28,160 Speaker 1: of the Stone Age tool set, UH, spoons start showing 607 00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:30,520 Speaker 1: up all over the place. And this really does appear 608 00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:34,520 Speaker 1: to be connected to the advent of agriculture. Humans are 609 00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:37,640 Speaker 1: living a more settled existence. They're practicing both the farming 610 00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:41,880 Speaker 1: of cereal crops and animal agriculture, which importantly provides milk. 611 00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:45,200 Speaker 1: And UH, spoons are showing up all over the place. 612 00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:47,440 Speaker 1: So what does this mean? And to me this gets 613 00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:50,400 Speaker 1: into the even more fascinating part of the Stevanovitch study 614 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:53,600 Speaker 1: because what it's actually looking at here is the is 615 00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:56,160 Speaker 1: the invention of the earliest spoons in the context of 616 00:33:56,160 --> 00:34:01,920 Speaker 1: broader shifts in food technology, agriculture, and especially childcare. UH. 617 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:03,760 Speaker 1: So I was reading a good write up of the 618 00:34:03,840 --> 00:34:07,480 Speaker 1: study by archaeologists and science writer Christina Kilgrove on her 619 00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:10,640 Speaker 1: Forbes blog. You can go read that blog post if 620 00:34:10,680 --> 00:34:12,120 Speaker 1: you if you want to know more, but just to 621 00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:14,640 Speaker 1: hit some of the points from it. The site that 622 00:34:14,680 --> 00:34:18,000 Speaker 1: they're looking at here in in the study is Groad Starcevo, 623 00:34:18,360 --> 00:34:20,960 Speaker 1: which is on the bank of the Danube in Serbia, 624 00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:23,680 Speaker 1: and these artifacts, I think we're discovered sometime in the 625 00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:27,360 Speaker 1: nineteen thirties. In the nineteen thirties, there's roughly like fifty 626 00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:30,359 Speaker 1: small bone tools that were found here, and they were 627 00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:32,520 Speaker 1: made out of cow bone. They were dated back to 628 00:34:32,719 --> 00:34:35,200 Speaker 1: roughly eight thousand years ago or so, which would have 629 00:34:35,200 --> 00:34:39,520 Speaker 1: been during the Neolithic. And previous archaeologists had suggested, well, 630 00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:43,120 Speaker 1: maybe these little bone tools were used for scraping flour 631 00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:47,520 Speaker 1: from grinding stones, or maybe for maybe making some kind 632 00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:51,240 Speaker 1: of markings on on ceramic pottery or ceramics in general, 633 00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:54,759 Speaker 1: or maybe they were somehow used in some kind of 634 00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:58,279 Speaker 1: cosmetic use like applying applying pigments to the body or 635 00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:01,680 Speaker 1: face or two clothing. But the authors of this twenty 636 00:35:01,760 --> 00:35:05,759 Speaker 1: nineteen study by Stefanovitch at All argue something different. They say, no, 637 00:35:05,960 --> 00:35:09,760 Speaker 1: these tools are spoons, and that quote they were used 638 00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:13,000 Speaker 1: for feeding babies, and that marks on them can be 639 00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:17,480 Speaker 1: connected to the usual mouthing behavior meaning biting, nibbling, gnawing, 640 00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:20,560 Speaker 1: and pulling of children who may up to four years 641 00:35:20,600 --> 00:35:24,120 Speaker 1: of age mouth objects up to fifty times during one hour. 642 00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:28,560 Speaker 1: And they tested this by looking by doing bite mark analysis. 643 00:35:28,600 --> 00:35:32,040 Speaker 1: They were comparing marks left on these bone tools two 644 00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:35,520 Speaker 1: marks left by dental models based on the teeth of 645 00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:38,359 Speaker 1: babies and children today, and what they say is they 646 00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:41,479 Speaker 1: found a match. The marks on these bone tools really 647 00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:44,760 Speaker 1: made it look very clear that babies and young children 648 00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:48,239 Speaker 1: were chewing on them and that these probably were spoons 649 00:35:48,360 --> 00:35:51,160 Speaker 1: used for feeding babies. And so here I want to 650 00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:53,960 Speaker 1: read a section from kil Roves right up quote. The 651 00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:58,040 Speaker 1: discovery of feeding spoons is highly significant archaeologically. In the 652 00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:01,680 Speaker 1: Neolithic time period, there came a series of dramatic transformations 653 00:36:01,719 --> 00:36:04,880 Speaker 1: for human culture, a more sedentary way of life thanks 654 00:36:04,880 --> 00:36:08,280 Speaker 1: to the first plant and animal domestication. This so called 655 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:13,920 Speaker 1: Neolithic revolution also affected the population structure. Reduced mobility, a 656 00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:17,960 Speaker 1: shift towards high calorie cereal foods, and a reduction in 657 00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:20,720 Speaker 1: the length of time that mother's breast fed their babies 658 00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:25,239 Speaker 1: led to an incredibly rapid population growth. And as she 659 00:36:25,320 --> 00:36:28,640 Speaker 1: notes that even though the demographic growth of humans during 660 00:36:28,640 --> 00:36:31,239 Speaker 1: the Neolithic period should be understood in a major way 661 00:36:31,280 --> 00:36:33,799 Speaker 1: in terms of what mothers and babies were doing at 662 00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:37,720 Speaker 1: the time, this area of prehistory has often been understudied, 663 00:36:38,160 --> 00:36:40,719 Speaker 1: and I think that reflects a general trend in in 664 00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:44,160 Speaker 1: the study of history and and deep prehistory is that 665 00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:47,680 Speaker 1: there's sometimes not enough attention paid to domestic life in 666 00:36:47,719 --> 00:36:52,600 Speaker 1: the raising of children. Yeah, yeah, more focused on what 667 00:36:52,680 --> 00:36:56,440 Speaker 1: the hunters were doing and so forth, and so Stefanovitch 668 00:36:56,480 --> 00:36:59,040 Speaker 1: and colleagues in this paper argue that quote, the increased 669 00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:02,719 Speaker 1: number of baby in the Neolithic demanded new daily life 670 00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:07,319 Speaker 1: routines not only for prehistoric parents, but for the whole community. 671 00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:11,240 Speaker 1: So there's this idea that maybe child rearing here became 672 00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:14,800 Speaker 1: less of something that was just going on directly between 673 00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:18,440 Speaker 1: the mother and her own infant, but became more of 674 00:37:18,440 --> 00:37:21,839 Speaker 1: a community activity where other people could pitch in with 675 00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:25,560 Speaker 1: things like feeding the babies and uh and so other. 676 00:37:25,600 --> 00:37:28,240 Speaker 1: There's some other things we can learn from physical features 677 00:37:28,239 --> 00:37:31,480 Speaker 1: of the spoons apart from the bite marks. One is 678 00:37:31,520 --> 00:37:34,240 Speaker 1: that these bone spoons took a lot of work to produce, 679 00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:38,960 Speaker 1: apparently experimentally, maybe around twenty five hours of labor. That 680 00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:41,640 Speaker 1: it's hard to know again always with these experimental studies, 681 00:37:41,680 --> 00:37:44,920 Speaker 1: like how exactly that would translate to two original labor 682 00:37:44,960 --> 00:37:46,640 Speaker 1: time in the Stone Age, But yeah, it's clear they 683 00:37:46,640 --> 00:37:48,879 Speaker 1: would have taken time to create. This was not just 684 00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:52,440 Speaker 1: like something that was basically a nature fact. It took work, 685 00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:57,280 Speaker 1: so different from like a modern plastic spoon, where oftentimes 686 00:37:57,600 --> 00:38:00,600 Speaker 1: you get it for free with the meal that you purchased, 687 00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:05,279 Speaker 1: and then you might throw it away without even using it. Yeah, yeah, 688 00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:09,160 Speaker 1: that always, Yeah, every time that happens. I don't recommend it. 689 00:38:09,200 --> 00:38:10,920 Speaker 1: I'm not saying that's the way to live your life, 690 00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:15,160 Speaker 1: but that's where we are as a as a disposable culture. 691 00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:18,000 Speaker 1: But anyway, another thing about these these bone spoons is 692 00:38:18,040 --> 00:38:22,600 Speaker 1: that they represent evidence of infants being weaned on new 693 00:38:22,719 --> 00:38:26,680 Speaker 1: types of food. This was new This food was new technology. 694 00:38:26,760 --> 00:38:28,640 Speaker 1: I know it's weird to think about it that way, 695 00:38:28,680 --> 00:38:30,640 Speaker 1: but I think it really was like they were being 696 00:38:30,640 --> 00:38:33,960 Speaker 1: weaned on new types of food. Uh. The implications are 697 00:38:34,080 --> 00:38:38,160 Speaker 1: animal milk and ground cereal grains. Again, the depressions and 698 00:38:38,160 --> 00:38:41,719 Speaker 1: these spoons are shallow, indicating that it was likely porridge 699 00:38:41,880 --> 00:38:44,520 Speaker 1: that the children were being fed here when they were 700 00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:48,600 Speaker 1: making these teeth marks on the spoons. And this also represents, 701 00:38:48,640 --> 00:38:52,319 Speaker 1: again quoting from killgrowth here, new kinds of organization of 702 00:38:52,360 --> 00:38:56,400 Speaker 1: baby care. Given the new easy to prepare types of gruel, 703 00:38:56,520 --> 00:39:00,560 Speaker 1: probably allowed other persons to be involved in baby be weaning. 704 00:39:01,040 --> 00:39:03,000 Speaker 1: So anyway, this makes me think about spoons and a 705 00:39:03,040 --> 00:39:07,040 Speaker 1: whole new light as like a crucial piece of technology 706 00:39:07,120 --> 00:39:10,720 Speaker 1: in the development of human culture, especially as this relates 707 00:39:10,760 --> 00:39:16,080 Speaker 1: to uh, what childcare consisted of and who could do it? Yeah, 708 00:39:16,120 --> 00:39:18,960 Speaker 1: because like you said, suddenly they're more babies. Uh, and 709 00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:21,520 Speaker 1: then you have this more of a like a sedendary, local, 710 00:39:21,640 --> 00:39:25,120 Speaker 1: localized lifestyle. And yeah, other people can pitch in. Uh. 711 00:39:25,160 --> 00:39:27,719 Speaker 1: And and here's the the tool that makes it possible. 712 00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:31,480 Speaker 1: Here's the here's the the culinary invention that helps make 713 00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:34,280 Speaker 1: it possible, in the form of the porridge, which which 714 00:39:34,360 --> 00:39:36,040 Speaker 1: is very much a you know, a creation you don't 715 00:39:36,040 --> 00:39:40,160 Speaker 1: find naturally occurring porridge in the wild. Yeah. So this paper, 716 00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:42,640 Speaker 1: I will say, really blew my mind. I will not 717 00:39:42,719 --> 00:39:52,040 Speaker 1: think about spoons the same way after this one. All right, well, 718 00:39:52,080 --> 00:39:56,040 Speaker 1: should we get into some other examples of cultural spoons 719 00:39:56,040 --> 00:39:59,799 Speaker 1: and early spoons? All right? Well, I was you know 720 00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:03,680 Speaker 1: as a as a as a vis Becca brings this up. 721 00:40:03,880 --> 00:40:08,440 Speaker 1: There there's an author, James Gibbs, who discussed, uh, the 722 00:40:08,440 --> 00:40:12,600 Speaker 1: Egyptian spoon, which you alluded to earlier. Earlier, the Egyptians 723 00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:16,440 Speaker 1: produced small, round bronze spoons around one thousand b C. 724 00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:19,400 Speaker 1: And these were really neat because they had they had 725 00:40:19,440 --> 00:40:21,680 Speaker 1: sharp points at the end of the stem. So on 726 00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:24,239 Speaker 1: one end of the of the spoon you have, you know, 727 00:40:24,320 --> 00:40:26,400 Speaker 1: the spoon, the little bowl of the spoon, and then 728 00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:29,640 Speaker 1: the other hand and there's a skewer of sorts. You 729 00:40:29,960 --> 00:40:34,320 Speaker 1: might also call it the one tie in fork. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. 730 00:40:34,680 --> 00:40:36,600 Speaker 1: And but the thing is, it's kind of a mystery 731 00:40:37,680 --> 00:40:40,640 Speaker 1: what this was actually used for. So it's thought that 732 00:40:40,719 --> 00:40:44,440 Speaker 1: you you either you know, flipped your spoon around and 733 00:40:44,480 --> 00:40:46,600 Speaker 1: you and then use the spear to like grab bits 734 00:40:46,600 --> 00:40:48,839 Speaker 1: of meat off your plate again using it just like 735 00:40:48,880 --> 00:40:52,040 Speaker 1: a a one pronged fork or and this is neat. 736 00:40:52,320 --> 00:40:56,000 Speaker 1: It was used to extract snails. So it's for digging 737 00:40:56,040 --> 00:40:59,879 Speaker 1: around in there. Yeah, so I have to man, I'm 738 00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:03,400 Speaker 1: a big snail consumer. Uh and and never was, but 739 00:41:03,480 --> 00:41:05,239 Speaker 1: I was looking around, I was like, okay, you know, 740 00:41:05,440 --> 00:41:08,640 Speaker 1: scargo is a thing. It's part of French cuisine. Uh 741 00:41:08,960 --> 00:41:10,880 Speaker 1: I was. I was looking around at utensils for that, 742 00:41:11,000 --> 00:41:15,160 Speaker 1: and there are specialized utensils for snail eating for scargo, 743 00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:18,880 Speaker 1: though it seems to generally revolve around tongs and narrow 744 00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:23,040 Speaker 1: two pronged forks um. However, I looked around a little 745 00:41:23,080 --> 00:41:26,120 Speaker 1: bit more. My Amazon search results are totally jack now 746 00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:29,360 Speaker 1: if they're just gonna try and sell me weird or 747 00:41:29,880 --> 00:41:34,840 Speaker 1: atypical um eating utensils now, But I do see modern 748 00:41:34,920 --> 00:41:38,440 Speaker 1: seafood fork spoon combos that remind me a lot of 749 00:41:38,440 --> 00:41:41,160 Speaker 1: the Egyptian description, you know, like they're narrow with like 750 00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:43,520 Speaker 1: a little spoon on one end, and it's like a 751 00:41:43,600 --> 00:41:46,640 Speaker 1: thing that's it's more like a little shive on the 752 00:41:46,640 --> 00:41:50,399 Speaker 1: other that's used for digging around in um, like things 753 00:41:50,440 --> 00:41:53,880 Speaker 1: like crabs, picking crab, which is interesting because that, of 754 00:41:53,920 --> 00:41:57,360 Speaker 1: course is something that is often done with fingers. Like 755 00:41:57,440 --> 00:42:00,480 Speaker 1: fingers work really well for picking crab, if you don't 756 00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:03,240 Speaker 1: mind your fingers being stabbed by tiny pieces of shell 757 00:42:03,360 --> 00:42:07,680 Speaker 1: constantly and and just getting all nasty. Yeah, that's one 758 00:42:07,719 --> 00:42:10,040 Speaker 1: of the things I always feel like, Uh, I enjoy 759 00:42:10,160 --> 00:42:12,839 Speaker 1: eating crab, but whenever I do, I feel very self 760 00:42:12,840 --> 00:42:15,279 Speaker 1: conscious because I feel like I look disgusting like that 761 00:42:15,360 --> 00:42:17,919 Speaker 1: my fingertips are all covered in that juice and it's 762 00:42:17,920 --> 00:42:20,560 Speaker 1: just all over the place. Yeah, It's one of those 763 00:42:20,560 --> 00:42:22,759 Speaker 1: things that I enjoy for a little bit, and then 764 00:42:22,760 --> 00:42:25,560 Speaker 1: I'm increasingly over it because but it does make me 765 00:42:25,560 --> 00:42:27,640 Speaker 1: feel like a total hunter gatherer, you know, like I'm 766 00:42:27,680 --> 00:42:31,040 Speaker 1: just like I'm like, I'm just digging through the raw animal. 767 00:42:31,640 --> 00:42:33,719 Speaker 1: It's it's a kind of eating that for me. It 768 00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:37,399 Speaker 1: does not facilitate conversation at the table, you know, It's 769 00:42:37,440 --> 00:42:40,280 Speaker 1: like you don't you don't imagine like sitting around cracking 770 00:42:40,280 --> 00:42:43,120 Speaker 1: on a crab while you're also having a stimulating conversation. 771 00:42:43,239 --> 00:42:47,279 Speaker 1: It's just what's going on is between you and the crab. Well, 772 00:42:47,320 --> 00:42:50,799 Speaker 1: and then sometimes there's there's communication about the crabs. You're 773 00:42:50,800 --> 00:42:53,400 Speaker 1: talking about the search for the meat, and if you 774 00:42:53,440 --> 00:42:56,320 Speaker 1: have younger members at the table, it's about then helping 775 00:42:56,320 --> 00:43:00,359 Speaker 1: them acquire the meat. So I don't know, um, but 776 00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:03,160 Speaker 1: but in anyway, as far as Egyptian spoons go, I've 777 00:43:03,200 --> 00:43:05,920 Speaker 1: also read that it that spoons don't seem to have 778 00:43:06,040 --> 00:43:09,880 Speaker 1: been really in use in pre dynastic Egypt. So spoons 779 00:43:09,960 --> 00:43:12,719 Speaker 1: came with the rise of the pharaohs. So food would 780 00:43:12,719 --> 00:43:15,399 Speaker 1: have largely been consumed prior to this by hand at 781 00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:18,040 Speaker 1: the table, which is you know, still again a feature 782 00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:22,880 Speaker 1: of various culinary traditions. But but you do see, you know, 783 00:43:22,920 --> 00:43:24,920 Speaker 1: the rise of the Pharaohs, the rise of the spoon 784 00:43:25,400 --> 00:43:29,120 Speaker 1: um and you've see some very ornate spoons emerging as well. Well. 785 00:43:29,200 --> 00:43:31,920 Speaker 1: Something that I think emerges very early in human cooking 786 00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:35,040 Speaker 1: and culinary traditions and is still a major feature of 787 00:43:35,040 --> 00:43:38,480 Speaker 1: a lot of food today, is the is the spoon 788 00:43:38,640 --> 00:43:41,280 Speaker 1: that is edible where you know, a lot of cultures 789 00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:45,279 Speaker 1: focus very much on like scoopable breads that function as 790 00:43:45,280 --> 00:43:47,160 Speaker 1: a kind of spoon where you'll have like a stew 791 00:43:47,280 --> 00:43:50,320 Speaker 1: type food and then you'll have a type of flatbread 792 00:43:50,440 --> 00:43:53,000 Speaker 1: or something that used to scoop up or sop up 793 00:43:53,080 --> 00:43:56,040 Speaker 1: the stew and then shovel that into the mouth and 794 00:43:56,040 --> 00:43:58,200 Speaker 1: then you eat it as well, which is I don't 795 00:43:58,200 --> 00:44:00,160 Speaker 1: know that that's very appealing in many ways, is and 796 00:44:00,239 --> 00:44:02,759 Speaker 1: even that might be the cultural precursor to foods you 797 00:44:02,800 --> 00:44:06,319 Speaker 1: might not think of, is very connected to the culinary history, 798 00:44:06,360 --> 00:44:09,600 Speaker 1: like nachos with nacho cheese sauce, you know, or you 799 00:44:09,960 --> 00:44:12,360 Speaker 1: dip it in. That's that's an edible spoon, right, the 800 00:44:12,440 --> 00:44:14,719 Speaker 1: chip is I mean, in a way, it's kind of 801 00:44:14,719 --> 00:44:16,640 Speaker 1: getting to the idea of all right, we have these grains, 802 00:44:16,960 --> 00:44:18,800 Speaker 1: what can we make? What we can make porridge, and 803 00:44:18,840 --> 00:44:21,000 Speaker 1: we can make bread and then we can use the 804 00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:25,240 Speaker 1: bread to eat the porridge. Genius. UM like that basic motif. 805 00:44:25,280 --> 00:44:27,319 Speaker 1: You've seen a lot of different cuisines, and I love it. 806 00:44:27,480 --> 00:44:30,600 Speaker 1: I mean, I love I love ei Opian cuisine where 807 00:44:30,600 --> 00:44:33,600 Speaker 1: you used the special bread uh. And then of course 808 00:44:33,640 --> 00:44:35,359 Speaker 1: there's a lot of a lot of this in um 809 00:44:35,360 --> 00:44:38,359 Speaker 1: in various Indian cuisines as well. But yeah, I think 810 00:44:38,520 --> 00:44:40,400 Speaker 1: like you can find it pretty much everywhere. Like every 811 00:44:40,440 --> 00:44:42,640 Speaker 1: culture that has bread or some sort of bread like 812 00:44:42,719 --> 00:44:45,000 Speaker 1: product is going to have some sort of sopping action 813 00:44:45,120 --> 00:44:49,600 Speaker 1: going on. Now. Virusbecca spends a fair amount of time 814 00:44:49,760 --> 00:44:53,799 Speaker 1: talking about Chinese spoons, in particular the tongue chi. So 815 00:44:53,880 --> 00:44:56,600 Speaker 1: this is this is a soup spoon, and you've likely 816 00:44:56,640 --> 00:44:59,359 Speaker 1: seen one of these before if you've ever uh had 817 00:44:59,520 --> 00:45:02,480 Speaker 1: had Chinese food, said a Chinese restaurant or even other 818 00:45:02,760 --> 00:45:05,919 Speaker 1: Asian cuisines. It is a short it has a short, 819 00:45:05,920 --> 00:45:08,959 Speaker 1: thick handle and a deep flat bowl, and they're really 820 00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:12,440 Speaker 1: great for soups. They hold more than a traditional Western 821 00:45:12,480 --> 00:45:14,799 Speaker 1: soup spoon, and at least in my experience, I feel 822 00:45:14,800 --> 00:45:17,040 Speaker 1: like it can be more stable and it can be 823 00:45:17,080 --> 00:45:19,720 Speaker 1: more suitable for cooling, you know, for blowing on the soup. 824 00:45:20,400 --> 00:45:23,480 Speaker 1: Maybe that's just all in my mind, but that's been 825 00:45:23,480 --> 00:45:25,800 Speaker 1: my experience. Oh yeah, I know what you're talking about 826 00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:30,480 Speaker 1: in Resbecca's article that she goes a lot into like 827 00:45:30,960 --> 00:45:34,080 Speaker 1: this Chinese spoon versus the Western spoon, and are they 828 00:45:34,120 --> 00:45:37,560 Speaker 1: at all comparable? Are they really different things? Um? And 829 00:45:37,640 --> 00:45:39,400 Speaker 1: I just refer to you that article for more of that. 830 00:45:39,480 --> 00:45:41,560 Speaker 1: But at the point they point out that the tang 831 00:45:41,680 --> 00:45:44,880 Speaker 1: essentially means soup in this context, but in the Chinese 832 00:45:44,920 --> 00:45:47,920 Speaker 1: usage it's water plus lots of different things. Uh. And 833 00:45:48,000 --> 00:45:50,799 Speaker 1: it's a different apparently from a thick soup or a 834 00:45:50,880 --> 00:45:53,200 Speaker 1: soup that doesn't have anything in it, like a you know, 835 00:45:54,200 --> 00:45:57,200 Speaker 1: like a pure broth type of soup, each of which 836 00:45:57,239 --> 00:46:00,600 Speaker 1: have their own words in Mandarin. It's origin, however, and 837 00:46:00,640 --> 00:46:05,600 Speaker 1: it's exact design seem linked to North Chinese millet used 838 00:46:05,600 --> 00:46:09,080 Speaker 1: in kanji, which is a lot like Western porridge and gruel. 839 00:46:09,239 --> 00:46:11,160 Speaker 1: We talked about this a good bit in our Chopsticks 840 00:46:11,160 --> 00:46:16,080 Speaker 1: episode because the more like the the earlier reliance on 841 00:46:16,080 --> 00:46:19,400 Speaker 1: on millet. Uh, there's no use for chopsticks, Like, what 842 00:46:19,440 --> 00:46:21,600 Speaker 1: are you gonna do eat porridge with with chopsticks? No, 843 00:46:21,680 --> 00:46:24,360 Speaker 1: it doesn't make any sense. Uh, it's only as you 844 00:46:24,440 --> 00:46:26,080 Speaker 1: move away from that and you get more into rice 845 00:46:26,320 --> 00:46:28,480 Speaker 1: that you see the rise of the chopstick. Yeah. And 846 00:46:28,520 --> 00:46:31,680 Speaker 1: if you recall from uh, from our episode about chopsticks, 847 00:46:31,760 --> 00:46:35,720 Speaker 1: that the earliest evidence is that chopsticks were originally used 848 00:46:35,800 --> 00:46:40,200 Speaker 1: more as a cooking utensil than as an eating utensil. Yeah. 849 00:46:40,280 --> 00:46:42,160 Speaker 1: And I have to say, after we did that article, 850 00:46:42,239 --> 00:46:47,080 Speaker 1: I bought myself some cooking chopsticks, and I I cannot 851 00:46:47,080 --> 00:46:49,760 Speaker 1: go back to the old way, Like they're so useful 852 00:46:49,920 --> 00:46:52,040 Speaker 1: when um, when I'm when I'm frying things and they 853 00:46:52,040 --> 00:46:55,239 Speaker 1: need to turn little bits of say like um like 854 00:46:55,280 --> 00:46:58,319 Speaker 1: tofu cubes or or something of that nature, when they 855 00:46:58,320 --> 00:47:00,880 Speaker 1: need to turn those over in the pan, and of 856 00:47:00,880 --> 00:47:03,360 Speaker 1: course do so without being burned. I've just become to 857 00:47:03,480 --> 00:47:05,839 Speaker 1: come to really rely on those. I also really liked 858 00:47:05,880 --> 00:47:09,800 Speaker 1: them for if for situations where I dropped something down 859 00:47:10,280 --> 00:47:12,640 Speaker 1: into the top of the stove and I want to 860 00:47:12,640 --> 00:47:15,160 Speaker 1: get it out before it is burnt up, I can 861 00:47:15,200 --> 00:47:17,000 Speaker 1: reach down there real quick and grab them with my 862 00:47:17,320 --> 00:47:20,520 Speaker 1: cooking chopsticks. Oh nice, I mean yeah, I think having 863 00:47:20,560 --> 00:47:22,759 Speaker 1: that kind of precision is something you'll see among a 864 00:47:22,760 --> 00:47:25,960 Speaker 1: lot of I don't know cooks who are operating at 865 00:47:25,960 --> 00:47:28,760 Speaker 1: a very high level, like in in fancy restaurant kitchens, 866 00:47:28,800 --> 00:47:31,080 Speaker 1: a lot of times you will see more use of 867 00:47:31,280 --> 00:47:35,879 Speaker 1: tongs and and even tweezers, though the tweezer preparation, yeah, 868 00:47:35,960 --> 00:47:38,239 Speaker 1: than you would in the average home kitchen. I think 869 00:47:38,680 --> 00:47:41,880 Speaker 1: now back to to porridge, though we we've we've already 870 00:47:41,880 --> 00:47:43,719 Speaker 1: discussed you know, the basics here, but I think it 871 00:47:43,840 --> 00:47:46,279 Speaker 1: is kind of neat to think about porridge as the 872 00:47:46,320 --> 00:47:51,239 Speaker 1: patient zero for all semi liquid foods, you know, like cultures. 873 00:47:51,560 --> 00:47:54,520 Speaker 1: Nobody really abandons porridge and kanji. I mean, these are 874 00:47:54,520 --> 00:47:59,400 Speaker 1: things that even the world the word rule has certain connotations, 875 00:47:59,440 --> 00:48:01,680 Speaker 1: but these are all things that, if if prepared right, 876 00:48:01,800 --> 00:48:04,200 Speaker 1: can be can be excellent, and if nothing else, they 877 00:48:04,239 --> 00:48:06,400 Speaker 1: can be a comfort food. So uh, you know, they 878 00:48:06,440 --> 00:48:08,680 Speaker 1: never really go away. But then we develop all these 879 00:48:08,719 --> 00:48:12,880 Speaker 1: other things that are the porridge like right, things for 880 00:48:12,960 --> 00:48:16,000 Speaker 1: which the spoon makes all the sense in the world. 881 00:48:16,320 --> 00:48:17,920 Speaker 1: And then if you're taking and then again if you're 882 00:48:17,960 --> 00:48:22,759 Speaker 1: mixing things, measuring things again, it becomes increasingly important to 883 00:48:22,840 --> 00:48:25,120 Speaker 1: have the spoon at hand. All right, well, I think 884 00:48:25,160 --> 00:48:27,279 Speaker 1: maybe we need to call it there for part one, 885 00:48:27,400 --> 00:48:30,239 Speaker 1: But there's so much more interesting spoon stuff to talk about. 886 00:48:30,280 --> 00:48:34,640 Speaker 1: We've given ourselves the spoon challenge. We we dared ourselves 887 00:48:34,680 --> 00:48:37,600 Speaker 1: to to talk about spoons for two whole parts of 888 00:48:37,640 --> 00:48:40,080 Speaker 1: this show, and and by god, we're gonna do it. 889 00:48:40,360 --> 00:48:41,840 Speaker 1: That's right. And we already have some stuff in the 890 00:48:41,880 --> 00:48:44,080 Speaker 1: notes we didn't get to. But now we're gonna see 891 00:48:44,080 --> 00:48:46,120 Speaker 1: what else is out there. And I don't think we're 892 00:48:46,160 --> 00:48:49,879 Speaker 1: gonna be disappointed. Uh So, tune in next time as 893 00:48:49,880 --> 00:48:54,279 Speaker 1: we continue our look at the spoon, a fantastic bit 894 00:48:54,320 --> 00:48:58,560 Speaker 1: of culinary technology that has never gone away. We'll never 895 00:48:58,600 --> 00:49:02,360 Speaker 1: go away. Uh so. Uh yeah, tune in on Thursday. 896 00:49:02,640 --> 00:49:04,359 Speaker 1: In the meantime, if you would like to check out 897 00:49:04,360 --> 00:49:07,000 Speaker 1: other episodes of Stuff to Blow Your Mind and even Invention, 898 00:49:07,600 --> 00:49:09,120 Speaker 1: you can head on over to the Stuff to Blow 899 00:49:09,160 --> 00:49:11,920 Speaker 1: your Mind podcast feed. That's where we'll find all this 900 00:49:12,000 --> 00:49:14,880 Speaker 1: stuff on Monday's. We do listener mail Tuesdays and Thursdays, 901 00:49:14,960 --> 00:49:17,480 Speaker 1: or core episodes Wednesdays, so when we tend to publish 902 00:49:17,560 --> 00:49:19,920 Speaker 1: the artifact, and then on Fridays we have weird ol 903 00:49:20,000 --> 00:49:23,440 Speaker 1: Cinema for you, uh with a vault episode on the weekends. Also, 904 00:49:23,520 --> 00:49:27,120 Speaker 1: Invention has its own podcast feed. We're no longer updating 905 00:49:27,280 --> 00:49:29,440 Speaker 1: that feed. But if you want to find all of 906 00:49:29,480 --> 00:49:33,040 Speaker 1: the Invention episode the older ones uh in one spot, 907 00:49:33,360 --> 00:49:35,000 Speaker 1: you can find it there. Just go to wherever you 908 00:49:35,000 --> 00:49:38,520 Speaker 1: get your podcast and look for Invention UM. But anyway, 909 00:49:38,520 --> 00:49:40,880 Speaker 1: wherever you get any of these podcasts, just rate, review, 910 00:49:40,880 --> 00:49:42,879 Speaker 1: and subscribe. That's a great way to help us out. 911 00:49:43,400 --> 00:49:46,120 Speaker 1: Huge thanks as always to our excellent audio producer Seth 912 00:49:46,200 --> 00:49:48,600 Speaker 1: Nicholas Johnson. If you would like to get in touch 913 00:49:48,640 --> 00:49:50,759 Speaker 1: with us with feedback on this episode or any other, 914 00:49:50,840 --> 00:49:52,799 Speaker 1: to suggest a topic for the future, or just to 915 00:49:52,800 --> 00:49:55,439 Speaker 1: say hello, you can email us at contact that Stuff 916 00:49:55,480 --> 00:50:05,200 Speaker 1: to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your 917 00:50:05,239 --> 00:50:08,160 Speaker 1: Mind is production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts, 918 00:50:08,239 --> 00:50:10,239 Speaker 1: my heart Radio. This is the i heart Radio app, 919 00:50:10,440 --> 00:50:25,760 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening to your favorite shows.