If everybody had been as cautious as you two, nothing much would've happened.

There is a protocol for sampling unknown foods that I suspect aboriginal humans might have developed ad hoc. http://www.wikihow.com/Test-if-a-Plant-Is-Edible

I've seen military manuals with basically the same procedure recommended. I wonder if there are some commonly known dangerous plants that would've slipped through these cracks.

Potato seeds slipped through the cracks for centuries! http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/chris-mccandless-...

From the link: "Eat 1/4 cup of the same kind of plant part prepared the same way."

My father spent the last ten years of his career as an ethnobotanist (having previously been a government archaeologist) and his advice was increase the amount by doubling it with each subsequent test. Going from one piece of a leaf to 1/4 cup is a little bit too much of a leap, IMHO.

Also feeding it to animals. Might be a tad bit more inhumane and you could run into an issue with some animals that are able to eat poisonous food without issue, but sure is a lot nicer than accidentally dying yourself, I suppose.

> If everybody had been as cautious as you two, nothing much would've happened.

The time for eating unidentified fruit is when you are dying of starvation.

> If everybody had been as cautious as you two, nothing much would've happened.

No, actually they would have probably improved human knowledge after conducting the autopsy on your body and examined what you had carelessly ingested... ;) j/k

From TFA: "Perhaps few adults (especially a medically qualified one) would be foolish enough to try eating an unknown fruit found on a foreign beach, but children would be highly likely to do so, especially when they find it to smell and taste sweet, resembling a ripe plum."

It's really more of an advisory.

Life is weird, and sometimes natural selection fires a warning shot...

Sounds like alcohol might have been involved.