Paper short abstract:

Human migrations, prehistoric, historic, recent and contemporary, spread food technologies and human genes affecting the co-evolution of humans and their foods. As there are many perspectives on this, a cross-disciplinary approach to the topic is essential.

Paper long abstract:

Migrations over both long and short distances have been a persistent aspect of human existence. Those who migrate may be random or non-random samples of the population they leave, usually non-random. With these migrations cultures and food technologies have always spread, as well as human genes. The patterns of movement tend to be affected by military, social, commercial, political, marital, ecological, economic or simply chance factors in the lives of individuals or groups. Together with other environmental factors human migrations have affected and continue to affect the evolution and patterns of human population biology worldwide. The perspectives on the co-evolution of humans and their foods, therefore, are many, and it is important to bring together information from different disciplines. Those of us who work on topics related to humans and food have long been willing to work cooperatively in a cross-disciplinary way. For this topic it is essential.

This paper will provide a broad introduction to the interaction of the spread of food technologies and human population biology throughout the whole of human history, from the prehistoric spread of early agriculture, to agricultural improvements, to mechanisation, to the industrially processed foods and to the dominance of multinational firms in some food industries and outlets. As these affect human diets, they affect non-genetic factors in human biology, but these in turn interact with genetic factors, and ultimately with human adaptability and long-term genetic adaptation.