People put food in the fridge to slow bacteria growth. This quote is from a USDA Health brochure
>Bacteria grow most rapidly in the range of temperatures
between 40 ° and 140 °F, doubling in number in as
little as 20 minutes. This range of temperatures is often
called the “Danger Zone.” That’s why the Meat and
Poultry Hotline advises consumers to never leave food
out of refrigeration over 2 hours. If the temperature is
above 90 °F, food should not be left out more than 1
hour.
Yet somehow people survived for a very long time without refrigeration. In fact, we evolved to live without it, so those bacteria are probably good for us if anything. Personally I don't even like to eat cold food as it diminishes the flavour.
It's super easy to bring food to work and just eat it at room temperature. But instead people insist on this weird fridge then microwave ritual then complain about it being too difficult.
Or maybe we didn't survive. Life expectancy was half what it is today for most of humanity up until 1900. Even if you remove childhood deaths, life expectancy was still only about 33 years in the Paleolithic era.
I don't understand the romanticization of a time period where it was normal for people to die before they were 40.
Life expectancy has increased mostly thanks to modern medicine and in particular drastically reducing infant mortality. Keeping food in the fridge at all times has no effect other than reducing your enjoyment of the food and making it less likely that you bring food to work, thus decreasing your overall health.
>Bacteria grow most rapidly in the range of temperatures between 40 ° and 140 °F, doubling in number in as little as 20 minutes. This range of temperatures is often called the “Danger Zone.” That’s why the Meat and Poultry Hotline advises consumers to never leave food out of refrigeration over 2 hours. If the temperature is above 90 °F, food should not be left out more than 1 hour.