Even though you live underground where it's cooler you should refrigerate to prevent foodbourne illness--it's not worth the risk in my opinion. Tell Frodo to share.

I love questions like this because they reveal interesting things about culture, and I am endlessly fascinated by foodways and food cultures.

I don't know that I'd say refrigeration is "part of the problem." It certainly was a tool that made living in dense urban environments (which is, after all, more energy efficient) a lot more feasible. It takes land and space to produce and keep food safely for year-round eating, and "high-rise" apartment dwellers--present since at least the turn of the last century--don't have such options.

For instance, in old-time agricultural communities, people did have refrigeration--after a fashion--in the form of the root cellar. Below the house, and below the ground, in the dark, apples, cabbages, roots and tubers lasted the winter. More fragile stuff was canned and kept safely in the pantry. Meats were dry-cured and/or smoked. Eggs are perfectly safe at room temperature for days--certainly they'd be eaten long before going bad. Dairy was produced and consumed daily, or made into fermented products as you've suggested. Many things were likely consumed about as fast as they were produced, with little going to waste. Whatever waste there was went to the pigs and chickens to be recycled back into more food.

Then there was the icebox. If you've ever seen one, you know they weren't keeping much in there...too small.

Refrigeration certainly encourages waste these days (I call the "crisper" drawer in my fridge the "rotter,"), and the adoption of convenience foods, like prepared condiments, pre-made meals, etc.

But since going more or less paleo, I have found my need for fridge space dwindling. I almost always have a whole shelf free. But instead of a root cellar and canning, I do have a small chest deep freeze where my non-seasonal produce and extra meat lives. Thanks to that deep freeze, I think these days I could probably get by on a large dorm-sized fridge. (I am single, though, with no roommates.)

Veggies and fruits do NOT need to be refrigerated. The just last longer if you do refrigerate them.

A primal farmer told me that eggs last up to 1 month at room temp and up to 2 months in the fridge.

I don't think any of us take a month to finish a dozen or 2 eggs... so go ahead and leave these foods out if need be.

Here are some ideas if you want to avoid the fridge

It's only my opinion, but I think we do. I also think we are over-using the fridge since it's there. When I was growing up, the cooked boiled dinner sat on the cellar steps until bedtime rather than going into the fridge warm and raw eggs frequently sat on a bowl on the table. After Thanksgiving dinner, the turkey sat out with a dish towel over it so we could grab morsels as we passed. Nothing bad ever happened.

On the other hand, after eating at supermarket delis and restaurants I've suffered severe food poisoning several times. I'm willing to do whatever's needed to avoid any more such experiences.

Cooked food dishes, such as vegetable/potato salad or meat with sauces, absolutely need to be refrigerated. Many raw foods will keep much longer if refrigerated. Here in southern Nevada, I know people lived here without refrigeration but I can't imagine it. You'd be limited to dried or fresh-cut/killed food for sure.

If you eat the animal immediately after you gut it, then no.

In one of my first-year microbiology labs we swabbed meat that had been out for every 30 minutes for the first 24 hours, then every day for the next five days...I would recommend the fridge. It's gets gnarly pretty fast.

Also, you are not going to get any real physiological benefit from leaving food out- leftovers, unless they have specifically been prepared for fermentation, aren't going to get a beautiful flora going, probably just increase your likelihood of getting food poisoning.

Eggs are fine to leave out for the most part (I've let our sit in the hot hen house over the weekend if no one is collecting), but again, you're not going to get any benefits. I don't think refrigeration is a very big deal, it's mostly just there to slow bacterial growth. That said, I live in a super chilly apartment, so I store things on the window ledges if the fridge is too full. Sometimes it's colder there than the fridge, as many a frozen egg has been cracked into a pan.

Sure, beneficial yeast and bacterial growth are a good thing. But they're likely to be toxic and pathogenic as well. Buying, not producing your food, you're not going to know what the quality is.

Sounds like you're teetering on the edge of reenactment territory. It's 2012, not 10000 BC.

Anywhere you go in Europe you won't find the eggs in the fridge - they just hang out on the shelves next to the flour! We're all still live n' kickin'!

In re. your question, I think you're asking the wrong question. It's not so much are refrigerators necessary, but is food preservation necessary. Refrigerators are just one aspect of that.

In the past, you either ate food right away or you preserved it for future eating. Or you got sick/died from food poisoning... Using cold, salt, vinegar, fermentation, canning, dehydration, etc. Refrigerators are a modern extension of root cellars for keeping food cold.

Refrigerators are a convenience and time saver in the modern era. So, it depends on how much work you want to do. Is a refrigerator critical? No. Assuming you want to buy food every few days, pay extra (because you're missing the bulk purchase days), have room to store the food, and have the time/want to do all the other work you'll need to do to preserve food.

I left eggs out on my counter for about a month once when I went on a trip and they were fine. I never refrigerate them. They cook better if at room temp anyway :)