The book “In Lucy’s Footsteps. An Evolutionary Journey. How Food Made Us Human. The Virtues and Value of Animal Protein” will be presented in its English edition on April 8 at the European Parliament in Brussels.

How did food make us human? The question posed in the subtitle of the book “In Lucy’s Footsteps“, which will be presented in its English version on April 8 at the European Parliament in Brussels, is only apparently a play on words. In reality, it opens a new perspective on evolutionary convergence in the human species, between the primordial, natural act of feeding ourselves and the sophisticated ability to communicate through symbolic language.

Many animals possess forms of communication, but only Homo sapiens has been able to differentiate vocal modulation into an increasingly diverse number of languages, reaching today’s 7,159(excluding dialects). In parallel, there exists an enormous variety of dishes closely tied to tradition: in Italy alone, as many as 5,047 traditional food specialities have been officially recorded. Let us explore the reasons behind this remarkable variability that characterises humanity, both in food and in language.

Language, long intertwined with nutrition

Language, in its evolution into different tongues, has been intertwined with nutrition since the very origin of our species. Both arise from a dual legacy: a cognitive one, which we share with the great apes, and a cooperative one, which distinguishes us from them. As shown by Judith Burkart, it was the combination of intelligence and the motivation to share, first food, then information, that laid the foundations for the evolution of human language. The primordial language and its derivatives emerged in a context in which the cooperative care of children made it natural to share not only nourishment but also experience.

This motivation to share evolved alongside the ability to transmit knowledge. Over time, geographically isolated human groups developed distinct genetic traits, as demonstrated by Luigi Cavalli-Sforza, as well as different languages and, consequently, diverse culinary traditions. The “genetic clusters” that form through genetic drift or natural selection often overlap with “linguistic clusters” and with distinct cultural patterns. In other words, “genes, languages, and diets travel together.“

A cultural habit can modify our DNA in just a few thousand years

But biology alone, without history, is not enough to explain what we put on our plates. As John R. Krebs points out, food preferences result from coevolution among genes, culture, and ecology. The example of lactase persistence (the ability to digest milk in adulthood) shows how a cultural habit, milk consumption among populations that first domesticated ruminants, can modify our DNA within just a few thousand years.

Not only what we eat, but also how and with whom we eat, are defining traits of Homo sapiens culture. As Massimo Montanari reminds us, food is never purely natural: it is always transformed, selected, and narrated. Preparing a dish is like constructing a sentence; it requires grammar, syntax, and meaning. For this reason, every cuisine has its own lexicon, its metaphors, and its rules, so that each meal becomes a discourse made of words and dishes, of silences and rituals.

How food and linguistic codes became intertwined

Thus, first around the fire and later around the table, food and linguistic codes became intertwined. Montanari also explains how food has, over time, become a tool of belonging, resistance, and identity, because it reveals who we are, where we come from, and with whom we choose to share bread.

At the end of our journey with Lucy, we discover that speaking and eating are the two great tools through which we have built our humanity: both serve to connect us with others, to pass on knowledge, and to recognise ourselves as part of a group. The Mediterranean Diet, with its harmony of flavours and landscapes, is perhaps the most successful chapter of this long history, one shaped by alliances between nature and culture, between body, “thoughts and words“, echoing the famous Italian song.