Fermentology Miniseminars: The Evolution of Sour Taste in Hominids

Join Rob Dunn, a professor of applied ecology at NC State, for a virtual discussion about the evolution of taste. He will begin the talk with an overview of the work he and his colleagues are conducting on the evolution of taste. He will then focus on the evolution of sour taste. Dunn will discuss new insights into when and why sour taste evolved, when and why sour tastes became attractive to our ancestors and how sour taste helped early humans (and before them Homo erectus) begin to ferment foods. Dunn is the author of Never Home Alone and a forthcoming book with Monica Sanchez — The Nature of Flavor.