Re:How do people learn to cook a poisonous plant safely?
by hinkley on Wednesday September 04, 2019 @03:46PM
(#20880733)
It's harder for us to rationalize it in an era where 'food security' is something only fringe groups had to wrestle with.
Some of our older holidays in the West trace their histories to feast-or-famine cycles.
I sometimes joke about 'how did they figure out this was edible' and suggest that they gave some village criminal the choice between banishment or eat this piece of fruit. If you survive you can stay. But it's probably more a combination of observing dogs eating things, and utter desperation during a drought.
Which if you think about it is extra scary because a lot of foods that we list as poisonous cause digestive distress. You don't want diarrhea when you're starving, and definitely not if you are dehydrated.
Some of our older holidays in the West trace their histories to feast-or-famine cycles.
I sometimes joke about 'how did they figure out this was edible' and suggest that they gave some village criminal the choice between banishment or eat this piece of fruit. If you survive you can stay. But it's probably more a combination of observing dogs eating things, and utter desperation during a drought.
Which if you think about it is extra scary because a lot of foods that we list as poisonous cause digestive distress. You don't want diarrhea when you're starving, and definitely not if you are dehydrated.