<|im_start|>system
You are a helpful AI assistant.<|im_end|>
<|im_start|>user
What is the history of how most plants that are poisonous raw were discovered to be safe when cooked. How did people in the past look at something that caused death or sickness and still decide they would try eating finding a way to eat it?<|im_end|>
<|im_start|>assistant
This is a very good question. It is the kind of question that seems simple on the surface, but upon looking into the answers, we see the complicated history of human survival, as well as the hidden assumptions in this question that make it seem more mysterious than it is.

The are several reasons that a person might try to eat a food that is toxic. The first, quite simply, is that sometimes the plant is less toxic than the person is hungry. A plant that causes cramps might be the only source of calories available, and people might try using cooking as a way too attempt to make those plants more palatable. They may then find that these plants that otherwise are toxic are now nutritious and no longer harmful. Many of the "toxic" plants that must be eaten cooked (or otherwise processed) are not killers even raw, but rather are unpleasant in small quantities and require very large quantities to cause more than short-term discomfort and harm. 

Another way that this can be discovered is through accident. Imagine a plant being left near a fire, after which birds or small animals are willing to eat it. Even early humans were just as intelligent as you and I, and had to be incredibly observant to survive the world around them. You can imagine them using this sort of observation to inform their own decisions about what to take risks to try.

And this can be extended further. It's possible that even in pre-history, humans made systematic observations when encountering new plants. We know that prehistoric humans spread very rapidly at times, and would have been encountering many plants and animals for the first time. It's possible that those people who explored often knew to always try eating a plant cooked for the first time. 

Finally, it's possible that the practice of eating raw plant foods was lost for a long time. Just as we now cook all of our meat, maybe the real question is the prehistoric people looking at us, wondering how we possibly discovered that some of the foods we take for granted are poisonous is not prepared first.<|im_end|>
<|im_start|>user
I guess it makes sense that, having discovered cooking, our ancestors decided to experiment with it. You went a little off-topic when you decided to go into the whole "weaker jaws and bigger brains" theory though. The answer could've been more concise and focused on the topic of poisonous foods.<|im_end|>
<|im_start|>assistant
I am sorry about that this is the correct answer
The discovery that certain plants that are poisonous when raw can be made safe through cooking likely occurred through trial and error over thousands of years of human history. Early humans were hunter-gatherers who had to rely on their knowledge of the natural world to survive. They likely experimented with different plants and animals as sources of food, discovering which ones were safe to eat and which ones were not through trial and error.

Over time, humans developed methods of cooking and processing food that allowed them to make otherwise poisonous plants safe to eat. For example, boiling or roasting certain plants can break down toxins and render them harmless. This knowledge would have been passed down from generation to generation through oral tradition.

In many cases, people in the past may have learned about the toxicity of certain plants through unfortunate accidents. For example, a member of a group might have become ill or died after eating a certain plant, leading the others to avoid it or experiment with ways of making it safe.

As human societies developed and became more complex, people began to share knowledge and techniques for preparing food through trade and cultural exchange. This allowed for the spread of knowledge about the preparation of poisonous plants and other food sources across different cultures and regions.

Today, scientists have identified many of the toxins present in various plants and have developed methods of testing and identifying poisonous substances. However, the basic knowledge of how to safely prepare certain plants for consumption likely originated through the experience and experimentation of early humans.<|im_end|>
<|im_start|>user
But how would they have figured that cooking these seemingly-deadly vegetables would make them safe to eat? Where did that thought process come from?<|im_end|>
<|im_start|>assistant
Trial and Error: people just ate the cooked vegetables and hoped that they wouldn't be poisoned, particularly when there wasn't enough edible food and they were super hungry. Remember that in the past many people starved to death; and when humans get really hungry, they will eat anything with even a chance of nourishment, even rotten food.

More importantly, by the time humans discovered plants, they were already cooking meat. To them, it seemed intuitive that some normally-inedible plant would become edible after it was cooked, since the exact same thing happens to meat

Furthermore, there aren't many plants and animals which will kill you with only a tiny taste; most plants will only make your stomach hurt and you feel ill for a while. So people ate a small amount of food, and then if they didn't suffer an adverse reaction, they ate more of it.

And once someone finally ate the cooked vegetable and was not poisoned, then it was obvious to others around them that cooking the plant made it edible. And people communicate, and word-of-mouth spreads through entire continents. It only take one bold person to try, and within a few decades, the entire country would be aware that the cooked vegetable was edible.

I hope that answered your question, and you can always ask for further clarification.<|im_end|>