for the world,
when that first forest-borne monkey ventured out
into the African plains, the savannah
where they would learn from their fellow creatures in that place, of weather and shelter, of the cycles of the year, of longer history, of new opportunity
and of the eating of meat, and of the hunting and the killing and the pride of the hunter
(out of all of which emerged the first individual, the power of individuality)
and also learned from their fellow of the preserving of meat, by burying, or under water
setting the stage for the fundamental step into humanness – the preservation of meat by practical and symbolic means, by drying, controlled light and temperature, salting, herbs, controlled fermentation or rotting
giving rise to salami, culture, wars, and all the other stuff that makes us human
Steven Pavlos Holmes, Ph.D. 