Origins of Food Science and Evolution into a Modern Scientific Discipline
Food science (and associated technology) has been practiced, sometimes inadvertently, for at least thousands of years and probably
before recorded history. Wrangham (2009) argues that food science, by way of food processing, probably started about 2 million
years ago when man discovered fire and its usefulness in cooking food. Since that time, heat treatment for the purposes of processing
and preserving food has formed an integral part of food science and the foundation of the modern food processing industry (Henry,
1997; Floros et al., 2010). Cooking was soon supplemented with salting, sun drying, and fermentation that all allowed food to be
primitively preserved and stored, and to thus provide sustenance to tribes and small communities particularly during lean times
(Tannahill, 1973; Floros et al., 2010). As such, the food science discipline was born and started to flourish, although unknowingly
to the practitioners at that time.