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Compared to most animals that spend their entire day foraging for food, it's not too bad. Adapting to eating dense and very nutritious animal flesh is a great time-saver, and as we didn't evolve long fangs, we had to learn to use tools instead, and the rest is history. (mixing cause and effect here for dramatic purposes)

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I think learning to cook food was likely a greater benefit. It's like we externally expanded our means of digestion.

I watched a Ted talk where the speaker suggested our large brains with their high energy consumption would not have been possible were it not for cooking.

Which came first, steak or intelligence?

Bone marrow came first. We were scavengers for the longest time. We invented tools to break the bones hyenas would leave. Skulking little scavengers.. until spears were invented then hoo boy - shit went exponential.

Steak I’d imagine, which is a prerequisite to growing a very energy-intensive organ such as our brain. Couldn’t have supported such a brain if we had been ruminants.

Indeed, carbs, and cooking to make those carbs available (from grasses, tubers, etc).

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