On Food and Cooking

the green pigment we see in vegetation all
around us, is a molecule that captures sunlight
and initiates this process of photosynthesis,
which culminates in the creation of the simple
sugar glucose.

6CO 2   +   6H 2 O  +   light   energy      C 6 H 12 O 6    +

6O 2

carbon  dioxide +   water   +   light   energy  

glucose +   oxygen

The bacteria that managed to “invent”
chlorophyll gave rise to algae and all green
land plants — and indirectly to land animals
as well. Before photosynthesis, the earth’s
atmosphere contained little oxygen, and the
sun’s killing ultraviolet rays penetrated all the
way to the ground and several feet into the
oceans. Living organisms could therefore
survive only in deeper waters. When
photosynthetic bacteria and early algae