Anna Bizon/Alamy
Last Word is Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s long-running series in which readers give scientific answers to each other’s questions, ranging from the minutiae of everyday life to absurd astronomical hypotheticals. To answer a question or ask a new one, email lastword@newscientist.com
When did hominids start to decorate their food and do any other species do the same?
Leo Coleman
Pratt Institiute, Brooklyn, New York, US
The origins of this practice are probably unknowable simply because styles of food preparation are imperfectly preserved in the fossil record, as food is eaten or rots. Also, learning something about cultural life from…
