forestwalker
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Actually the the smoke and some of the fumes are not good for you.
One of the reasons for using the embers and not before.
the thing to remember is that yes that is how it was done for millions of years but,
a) man has changed physically
b) the life span of a human back then was very low!
a. Not really, not on that level (cellular biochemistry is pretty much the same)
b. Depends on how you count, but remember that (1) they did not have much of a choice, and (2) it s very hard for a paleolithic hunter-gatherer to tell if something would kill him or her in 30-40 years time, if done on a daily basis. It is/was easy to tell that if you eat this root you will spend the night puking or even die, but an elevated cancer risk?