The origins of culinary arts began with primitive humans roughly 2 million years ago. Various theories exist as to how early humans used fire to cook meat. According to
anthropologist Richard Wrangham, author of
Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human, primitive humans tossed raw pieces of meat into flames to watch them cook. Another theory claims humans discovered roasted meat by chance when they found animals killed in forest fires more appetizing and easier to chew and digest than conventional raw meat. Culinary techniques improved with the introduction of earthenware and stoneware, the domestication of livestock, and advancements in
agriculture. In early civilizations, the primary employers of professional chefs were kings, aristocrats, or priests. The divide between professional chefs cooking for the wealthy and peasants cooking for their families engendered the development of many cuisines. Much of the study of culinary arts in Europe was organized by
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, famous for saying, "Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are", which has since been mistranslated and simplified into "You are what you eat". Other people helped to parse the different parts of food science and gastronomy. Over time, increasingly deeper and more detailed studies into foods and the culinary arts has led to a greater wealth of knowledge. In Asia, a similar path led to a separate study of the culinary arts, which later essentially merged with the Western counterpart. In the modern international marketplace, there is no longer a distinct divide between Western and Eastern foods. Culinary arts students today, generally speaking, are introduced to the different cuisines of many different cultures from around the world. The culinary arts, in the
Western world, as a craft and later as a field of study, began to evolve at the end of the
Renaissance period. Prior to this, chefs worked in castles, cooking for kings and queens, as well as their families, guests, and other workers of the castle. As
Monarchical rule became phased out as a modality, the chefs took their craft to
inns and hotels. From here, the craft evolved into a field of study. Before cooking institutions, professional cooks were mentors for individual students who apprenticed under them. In 1879, the first cooking school was founded in the United States: the Boston Cooking School. This school standardized cooking practices and recipes, and laid the groundwork for the culinary arts schools that would follow. == Tools and techniques ==