
Ötzi’s last supper: mummified hunter's final meal revealed - diodorus
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/jul/12/otzis-last-supper-mummified-hunters-final-meal-revealed
======
scotty79
> “The taste is really, well, it’s horrible,”

Ötzi probably liked it very much. Body of a hungry person learns to like
tastes that give it the calories.

When I was starting to feed myself I was cooking rice. Forgot salt. It was
dreadful. Forgot few times. Began to like the taste of overcooked unsalted
rice after I satiated my hunger few times with it.

------
noetic_techy
The keto and zerocarb (carnivore diet) communities on reddit are all pointing
out the fact that 46% by volume of the sample was fat, indicating he gained
60%+ by calorie macro of energy from fat (and a large percentage of proteins).
There is a compelling argument being made now that humans are more carnivore
than omnivore for most of our history (10,000 of agriculture is blip on the
radar for our species) and that we ate the whole animal. Yes, we can eat
anything, but did we. And which food sources are we most adapted for? Hence
The Omnivores Dilemma ... (good book)

~~~
nkrisc
It's not mentioned in The Guardian article but is mentioned in this one from
Ars Technica that he also had atherosclerosis, something his high fat diet
likely contributed to. I'm not 100% sold on trying to replicate the diet and
lifestyle of people who probably did not live past what we now consider middle
age. Particularly if I'm not living in the high reaches of the Alps.

[https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/07/otzi-the-icemans-
las...](https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/07/otzi-the-icemans-last-meal-
shows-how-copper-age-people-ate-on-the-run/)

~~~
cgh
As has been pointed out elsewhere[1], atherosclerosis is largely a genetic
condition and is not necessarily related to a high-fat diet.

"In the new study, Zink and his colleagues found that Ötzi had several gene
variants associated with cardiovascular disease, including one on the ninth
chromosome that is strongly tied to heart troubles, the researchers reported
today (July 30) in the journal Global Heart."[2]

Fun fact: Otzi also had Lyme disease.

Also, there is no evidence that Otzi's people died young because of their
diets. He was 45, so approaching middle age, and died while making a high
mountain traverse with an arrow in his back. I would bet anything he was
physically sturdier and, with modern medical care, healthier than nearly
everyone posting here.

[1] [http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2012/02/iceman-was-medical-
me...](http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2012/02/iceman-was-medical-mess)

2] [https://www.livescience.com/47114-otzi-had-heart-disease-
gen...](https://www.livescience.com/47114-otzi-had-heart-disease-genes.html)

------
bcheung
Little did Ötzi know, that thousands of years from now people would be so
concerned with what he ate.

In fact they even went so far as to invent social networks so people could see
what others recently ate.

------
dbcurtis
I followed the 1986 Will Steger
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Steger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Steger)
expedition to the North Pole quite closely at the time. I recall they spent a
lot of time developing and preparing foods for the journey, in particular a
high-fat pemmican. They also ate huge amounts of butter -- as much as they
could stand.

It is interesting that in Otzi's time the necessity for a high fat diet in
extreme cold conditions was understood -- or perhaps that is just how they
came to live.

------
curtis
It's kind of amazing to me that we are still learning stuff from Ötzi's
remains since they were discovered back in 1991.

~~~
ItsMe000001
Not to forget: He's the only person from his period, for thousands of years in
either direction, who has a homepage on the Internet!

[http://www.iceman.it/en/](http://www.iceman.it/en/)

------
skookumchuck
During WW2, some british flyers went to the Soviet Union to fly for them. The
first day the weather turned cold, the women brought out pots of boiling fat
for them to eat. The airmen were disgusted. But after flying at high altitude
in the bitter cold, they came to relish the breakfast of fat.

~~~
patient_zero
That sounds like an interesting read. I couldn't find anything in my brief
google search. Do you have a lead I can follow? Thanks

~~~
skookumchuck
I wish I had a source. I learned it from talking to a WW2 pilot.

~~~
emmelaich
My Dad used to compete with his brothers and sisters for the lard to make a
sandwich of.

The lard was left over from cooking meat.

------
glitcher
> "He clearly knew that fat is a high-energy source and he really composed his
> diet to survive at high altitude."

Perhaps there is more evidence behind this statement left out in the article?
How do we know what he "clearly knew", did his diet differ greatly from others
of the same region and time period?

~~~
foobar1962
> How do we know what he "clearly knew"

His stomach contained a lot of fat, but little mention of meat. The animal he
ate had both fat and meat (probably more meat). The fat has been stated as not
tasting nice, so he mush have preferentially eaten the fat.

------
rpvnwnkl
Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13962441](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13962441)
?

~~~
acqq
It’s certainly not! The research paper now is from 12th of July this year, the
brand new result:

[https://www.cell.com/current-
biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(18)...](https://www.cell.com/current-
biology/fulltext/S0960-9822\(18\)30703-6)

------
mahesh_rm
How is bacon of a clearly delicious animal - I am from the Alps, but never
tasted the specific animal due to it being protected, and rightly so -
considered of "horrible taste"? I guess they - maybe - didn't have salt, but
they still had smoke, and - you know - sun.

~~~
Semirhage
Bacon is cured belly meat, whereas this was apparently pure fat. Fat tends to
concentrate flavors, good or bad, and in this case it would have probably be
very _very_ gamey.

Edit: I think we have to see a difference between domesticated pigs, bred and
raised for purpose, and their cured, seasoned, fat... and some fat hacked off
a wild ibex. If you’ve ever had wild game you’ll know what I mean about gamey
flavors. I can only imagine that some ice age ibex would be an acquired taste
at best. Pig fat is also some of the most delicious, mild fat around, which is
why it’s pigs used in that article.

~~~
mahesh_rm
You mean, like this? [http://www.emikodavies.com/blog/italian-table-talk-
lardo-di-...](http://www.emikodavies.com/blog/italian-table-talk-lardo-di-
colonnata/) What is called "Lardo" is considered gourmet in most Italian /
European traditional cuisines, and I can clearly see people in 2018 easily
paying hundreds of dollars for a kilo of Ibex lard. I understand curing it
might optimize the taste, but I would not call dried/smoked lard horrible.

~~~
serf
Did you read the article you linked to?

>The biggest mistake non-Italian speakers make with this absolutely delicious
regional delicacy is that they translate it to “lard”, which, it must be
strongly pointed out, it is not. What we call “lard” in English is known as
strutto in Italian, which is used commonly for conserving, pastry making or
frying. Lardo, however, is cured pig’s back fat, a unique type of salumi.

So, no, what is called 'lard' is not gourmet in Italian cuisine. That's a
wholly separate thing from 'lardo', the delicacy you're referring to.

~~~
Retric
> Lardo, however, is cured pig’s back fat.

In other words a type of fat is considered a delicacy. That does not mean all
fat is a delicacy, but it does mean what the guy ate could have been fairly
tasty.

Also, taste has a lot to do with how hungry you are. My father had fairly
refined tastes and grew up in France, but said the best meal he ever ate was
an can of beans when he was _really_ hungry in the army.

EX: [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/active/11315994/Ten-
things-n...](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/active/11315994/Ten-things-no-
one-tells-you-before-an-Antarctic-expedition.html)

 _A normal man burns about 2,500 calories in a day. We burn between 7,000 to
9,000. That means supplementing your dehydrated food with slabs of butter. In
the first few days of the expedition, it tastes revolting, but then your body
just craves the fat content and you eat the butter like blocks of cheese._

