BUGS, WORMS, AND WEEDS - WHAT TO EAT WHEN THE CUPBOARD IS BARE
Bugs as Food
Do the Zetas eat bugs? They did in their past!
- ZetaTalk: Early Zeta,
written Dec 15, 1995.
- Early Zeta was a transplant. The worlds we
were placed upon had not sustained a life form complex enough to be
considered a base for intelligence. Early Zeta therefore was placed,
full grown and conscious, on Zeta worlds. Thus transplanted, Early
Zeta multiplied to the extent our worlds could support a population,
much as humans have upon the Earth. Early Zeta differed from our
present form primarily in brain size and mental capacities. Early
Zeta was also stockier, shorter, had large flat feet and in
appearance was something of a low brow, with the head jutting out
the back rather than rounding. Our large eyes were an adaptation to
our worlds, dim by your standards, so Early Zeta was a bit blind on
his new home, not a problem as the only danger Early Zeta faced was
from others of his kind. Our worlds do not contain carnivorous, nor
even herbivorous animals - just plants and bugs.
Eating bugs is a much overlooked source of protein and fat. Many recipes
exist.
- Insects as Human Food,
from Ohio State Fact Sheet on Entomology
- The eating of insects has yet to become a
day-to-day activity for most people in the United States and Europe
in spite of the superior nutritional content of edible insects
compared to other animals. Other cultures around the world have made
insects a main ingredient in their diets, providing an excellent
source of protein. Insects are an inexpensive substitute for meat in
many developing countries. In Mexico, grasshoppers and other edible
insects are sold by the pound in village markets and are fried
before being eaten. Many are sold in cans as fried grasshoppers,
chocolate covered ants, etc. Tortillas are served with red and white
agave worms in many Mexico city restaurants. Columbian citizens
enjoy eating a variety of insects such as termites, palm grubs and
ants. Ants are ground up and used as a spread on breads. Popular
insects eaten in the Philippines are June beetles, grasshoppers,
ants, mole crickets, water beetles, katydids, locusts and dragonfly
larvae. They can be fried, broiled or sauteed with vegetables.
In parts of Africa, ants, termites, beetle grubs, caterpillars and
grasshoppers are eaten. Some insects such as termites are eaten raw
soon after catching, while others are baked or fried before eating.
The giant waterbug roasted and eaten whole is a favorite food in
Asia. It is easily collected around lights at night around bodies of
water. Sago grubs are popular for cooks in Papua New Guinea, most
often boiled or roasted over an open fire. Other edible insects
eaten in this country include larvae of moths, wasps, butterflies,
dragonflies, beetles, adult grasshoppers, cicadas, stick insects,
moths and crickets.
-
- http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/ythfacts/bugfood/yf813.htm
- The natives of Algeria would collect large
numbers of desert locusts to use as food. They were a valuable
resource for the poor population. The locusts were cooked in salt
water and dried in the sun. Not only were they collected for
personal use, but the locusts were traded in the markets as well.
Australian natives, known as Aborigines, have eaten many different
insects throughout history. Hundreds of Aborigines would come
together at the Bogong mountains to feast on Bogong moths. These
moths would gather in large numbers on the cave floors and in rock
crevices. They were harvested, cooked in sand and stirred in hot
ashes. This would burn off the wings and legs. The moths were then
sifted through a net to remove their heads before they were eaten by
the Aborigines. Some of the moths were ground into paste and made
into cakes. Another important insect in the Aboriginal diet was the
witchety grub. This was a moth larva that lived in the roots of the
acacia bush, also known as the witchety bush. The grubs were eaten
raw or cooked in ashes. Cooked grubs supposedly taste like almonds.
The grubs were a valued food source in the Australian desert,
especially to women and children. Some of the insects eaten by the
Aborigines were very sweet. The natives would dig into the ground
looking for the nests of honeypot ants. The workers of these ants
collect honeydew and feed it to other worker ants, which would
become storage containers for the sweet liquid. The "storage"
workers could be found in the nests.
The Japanese have used insects as human food since ancient times.
The practice probably started in the Japanese Alps, where many
aquatic insects are captured and eaten. Thousands of years ago, this
region had a large human population but a shortage of animal
protein. Since the area had an abundance of aquatic insects, this
food source became very important for human survival. The Japanese
still use insects in many recipes. If you were to go to a restaurant
in Tokyo, you might have the opportunity to sample some of these
insect-based dishes
* hachi-no-ko - boiled wasp larvae
* zaza-mushi - aquatic insect larvae
* inago - fried rice-field grasshoppers
* semi - fried cicada
* sangi - fried silk moth pupae
Most of these insects are caught wild except for silk moth pupae.
They are by-products of the silk industry. Silk moths are raised in
mass for their ability to produce silk. The larvae, the young silk
moths, produce the silk. Once they pupate, they can no longer
produce silk and are then used as food.
People from West Africa have been known to feast on termites,
crickets, grasshoppers, caterpillars, palm weevil larvae, and
compost beetle larvae. Termites are collected by placing a bowl of
water under a light source. The termites are attracted to the light
and will then fall into the water. If large numbers of termites are
gathered, they are sold at local markets. People of all ages eat the
winged reproductive termites, but the queen termites are considered
a delicacy and are only eaten by adults. The termites are roasted
over a fire or hot coals or fried in a pot. After cooking, the wings
are removed and salt is added to taste. In some parts of Nigeria,
the Cirina forda Westwood larva is reported to be the most important
and widely eaten insect. This insect, often called Kanni, is a
caterpillar that is collected from the sheabutter tree. It is boiled
and dried in the sun before it is eaten. Kanni is widely used as an
ingredient in vegetable soup in this region. A very large edible
insect is the palm weevil larva. It can be four inches long and more
than two inches wide. The mature larvae are fleshy and grublike with
a high fat content. These insects are collected from the trunks of
palm trees. They are fried in a pot or frying pan. They are reported
to be very delicious. The compost beetle larvae are even larger than
the palm weevil larvae. They live in garbage or manure piles or
swampy areas. The end of the abdomen, which contains the guts, is
removed before the larvae are washed and fried. Some people refuse
to eat this insect because it is found in such dirty places.
And more …
- National Wildlife Federation
Based on the book, Man Eating Bugs: The Art and Science
of Eating Insects
December 1998
- ... dragonflies are delicious. In Bali, an
island in the Pacific Ocean. But why, you may ask, would anyone eat
insects? Because the little flying buggers make a high-protein meal.
And they're free for the catching! People in Bali go "fly fishing"
with strips of palmwood. First they dip the strips in sticky sap.
Next, they run through the rice fields, waving their sticky sticks.
Dragonflies hit the sticks and get glued. Then the people fry the
insects in coconut oil and eat them like candy. ... Indonesian
children ... usually eat taro and yams, potato-like tubers. The
tubers have lots of vitamins and carbohydrates but not much protein.
So for a high protein snack, these kids hunt stinkbugs. They look
for the bugs along forest trails. There, big kids climb trees to
catch them. The big kids then hand the bugs down to younger
children. To cook their catch, the kids stuff the bugs into bags
made of leaves. Then they toss the bags into a fire. How do the bugs
taste? One American said, "They were better than some worms I've
tried." People in Indonesia eat other creepy crawlies as well,
including the grubs .... They say they're chewy and taste like
bacon.
People in Botswana (a country in southern Africa) eat mopane worms
for the same reason that people in the United States eat hamburger -
to get lots of protein. But mopane worms have three times as much
protein as beef. The worms are really caterpillars of one of the
largest moths in the world. Here's a tip: Don't eat the caterpillars
when they're young and little. They're yucky then. Wait until
they've fattened up on the leaves of mopane trees. The next step is
to squeeze the guts out of the caterpillars. ... The guts are filled
with a yellow-green slimy mess that smells like ground-up leaves.
Then the caterpillars are boiled in salt water ... and spread out to
dry. Dried worms last for many months. The worms taste like beef
bits with a woody flavor. Many insects are good-tasting and high in
protein. Honey ants, for example, are sweet treats. Fried
grasshoppers and crickets taste something like fried shrimp. Fried
mealworms taste like pretzels that were once alive. And leaf-footed
bugs are fruity. Insects are also easy to find and free for the
taking. Does this mean you should eat every insect you can catch?
Well, no - some of them taste really bad, and some can make you
sick.
So how to know if a bug is edible, or the kind that will make you sick?
- http://www.survival.com/bug.htm
- Bees and wasps are OK eaten after a good
boiling. The poison is basically a protein which disassembles at
boiling temperatures. The stinger softens. Pounding them before
boiling is effective. Bee and Wasp larvae are delicious! Avoid
insects which carry disease, are poisonous, have fine hairs, bright
colors, or eight or more legs. One of the most dangerous insects is
in the cantharidin family (blister beetles). I doubt that you will
run into those unless you pop over to the Mediterranean just to
munch bugs. When in doubt about a bug do the insect safety test. And
follow these time tested rules.
Always try to cook insects.
Never eat bugs you find dead.
Don't eat bugs that bite back!
If it smells really bad, don't eat it!
Insects or spiders for dinner should always be fresh, as they deteriorate
rapidly after being killed.
Cooking in some manner kills any bacteria that might be on or in them.
The insects can be purged in various ways.
Meal worms for instance can be fed corn meal the day before they are
eaten, as their digestive tracks then contain .. corn meal!
- http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/ythfacts/bugfood/bugfood2.htm
from the book Entertaining with Insects
- Insects are best if cooked while alive. In
contrast to beef, lamb, and poultry, postmortem changes rapidly
render insects unpalatable. Mealworms need to be changed to bran
meal or corn meal or starved for 24 hours, to purge their guts. To
separate mealworms from any attached food, waste material, or other
debris, place a handful of them in a colander and gently toss.
Remove any dead worms, and wash the remaining live insects under
cool water. Place the worms on paper towels and pat dry. The
mealworms are ready to be cooked. You may want to remove the legs,
wings, and ovipositor of Crickets after dry roasting them. Bake at
200 degrees Fahrenheit for 1-2 hours, until the insects can be
easily crushed with a spoon.
Earthworms
Earthworms are an excellent source of protein, reportedly 82% protein.
Earthworms are also high in Omega 3 oil, the essential oil of ocean going
fish, which reduces risk of heart disease.
In short, they are an excellent food source!
Where earthworms are noted for building soil from compost heaps,
earthworms don't suffer from fungus, bacterial, or viral infections,
multiply rapidly, and don't make noise or run off!
How does one go about growing earthworms for food, a process called
vermiculture.
The worm to use is the red wriggler, as they take to compost piles and
being handled.
We at the Troubled Times nonprofit tried our hand at earthworm growing,
trying the monster night crawlers, so much more protein per worm.
We found all the night crawlers died out, and refused to be domesticated.
Red wrigglers, on the other hand, thrived.
All kinds of vegetative trash will be turned into soil by these
industrious little wrigglers.
But there are some items that will make them sick.
- Mother Earth News, June/July
2000
http://www.motherearthnews.com/
- Sort out citrus rinds, avacado pits, and
onions. ... Lawn grass and leaves will be the mainstay of your
earthworms diet. In addition to vegetable and fruit scraps, you can
add egg shells, tea bags, and coffee grounds. Do not use meat scrap
or fat. ... For bin-based vermiculture, it is generally recommended
that folks use red wigglers (Eisenia foetida). Worms reproduce
rapidly, a pair will produce an egg capsule weekly containing up to
20 eggs. These eggs will lie dormant until the proper temperature
and moisture conditions allow them to hatch - normally within two or
three weeks. Within eight to 12 weeks of hatching the new worms are
themselves ready to reproduce. ... The worms tend to remain most
active near the pile's surface, where they are continuouly lured by
newly applied organic material. ... If the worm pile is built too
high, the weight of the organic material will speed decomposition,
boosting the pile's internal temperature to levels dangerously above
the worm's ideal 70 degrees F. ... Soils high in clay or organic
material lack the grit, or small pieces of soil material, necessary
for worm digestion. .. you can try mixing the sand into your soil.
More about that little bit of grit or sand the worms need for digestion
later, when it comes time to clean their little bodies for the soup pot.
The grit is the hardest thing to remove.
But before we leave the subject of growing those little wrigglers, there's
lots to be learned.
We at the Troubled Times nonprofit made lots of mistakes, and learned from
them, so I'd like to share our experience.
First off, forget dirt.
It would seem like worms would need dirt to live in, as they zip down into
the dirt to escape predators and to keep cool in Summer of warm in Winter,
but if you have a domesticated compost pile and are trying to raise a mess
of wrigglers for dinner, you don't need dirt!
Our second mistake was in not removing the egg casts, as this is a natural
population control mechanism for earthworms.
Too many eggs casts, too many worms, so they stop laying eggs.
In a closed system, where they can't escape the egg casts, this will
eventually mean the population die of old age, with no new wormlets coming
up to replace the oldsters.
That's what happened to us.
Darryl Jones, of Australia, was a Troubled Times member at the time, and
made his living in vermiculture.
He advised:
- Harvesting
/food/tfood04m.htm
- The secret to worm farming is simple. You
have to extract worm all the time. When you leave cast behind the
mechanism for cocoon burst and egg creation is switched off.
The goal of Darryl's business was earthworms for food for livestock and
fish, and also for liquid fertilizer made by watering the worm beds.
He sold worm beds to greenhouses for the liquid fertilizer and to dairy
farms where cow manure was converted back to become cow feed!
- Vital Earth
/food/tfood04a.htm
- Our modular above ground system allows for
easy harvesting of Earthworms and cast, additional modules can be
added at any time.
* Each pit will produce approximately 20 litres of liquid cast per
day that can be further diluted 50:1 giving a useable liquid
fertilizer of 1000 liters per day.
* Solid casts have been shown to have 6 times more available
nitrogen than feed material, 7 times more phosphorus, 2 times more
calcium and magnesium, and a neutral pH
* Alternatively if the application of the pit is for maximum
Earthworm production, then a kilo of worms (approximately 4000) per
day can be raised and harvested.
* The control valve, filter, and misting system ensures correct
moisture levels, and inbuilt liquid cast filter provides a solid
free liquid fertilizer, the optional tarpaulin cover is useful in
extreme heat, rain or wind but normally is not required.
The method used in these worm beds was to add fresh compost and turn
frequently, not overheat or freeze, optimally at 70 degrees, harvest the
worms frequently, water the beds and collect the liquid draining out of
the beds as liquid fertilizer, if desired, and eventually harvest the
casts themselves as a food source for livestock.
Casts are hard, soil colored nubbins about the size of a bean, usually
left on the surface.
Worm beds thus produce worms as protein, cast as livestock feed, and
liquid fertilizer.
I might add, the compost pile can then be dug into the garden, helping the
garden grow.
New beds are started by adding egg casts to these beds.
We at the Troubled Times nonprofit tested the worth of the liquid drainage
from the worm beds, in our hydroponic lab.
What we found was that it grew plants hydroponically equally as well as
the commercial nutrient solution!
I can personally attest to this, as I was down there counting flower
blossoms, leaves on sprouts, and testing the nitrogen and potash levels.
So now that we've raised those red wrigglers, and are harvesting them, how
does one go about eating them?
The myth is that if you drop earthworms into cold water, they will purge
themselves, and be cleaned.
We found that after an hour they were still swimming around down there,
had not drown, and mostly had not purged themselves.
Certainly, the grit, pieces of sand in their digestive tracks, was still
there, and produced that sand in the teeth feeling when eaten.
What we found worked was finely chopping the worms and then rinsing them.
This got rid of the grit, and whatever they were in the process of
digesting.
Earthworms seemed to have no taste, so whatever dish one added the to
prevailed as the dominant taste.
My favorite story from the times when we ate whatever the worm chef dished
up was the chicken soup story.
A neighbor had just fixed the roof, and we asked him to taste test some
'chicken soup'.
He downed the bowl, pronounced it good but added he thought it needed more
chicken.
Then seeing our eyes glued to his face as he emptied the bowl, he said
'this ain't one of them worm recipes, is it?'
Oops, too late! But we were all none of the worse for wear, after taste
testing various worm recipes.
The best were those where one could not see the actual worm shape, but
where chopped worm was added to soup or stews.
How does one get worms for the vermiculture beds after the pole shift?
Today you can order a mess of red wrigglers, through the mail, but after
the shift will have to extract them from the soil.
This can be done by simply turning over some soil and grabbing them, or
putting coffee grounds or some other tasty item on top of the soil to
attract them, but can also be done by a process called grunting.
- Grunting
/food/tfood04r.htm
- The setup does not have to be all that
fancy. A farmer friend of mine showed me how just by stomping a
shovel into the ground and then sort of drumming on the side of the
shovel handle with his outstretched fingers. I have done it on a
small scale with a trowel in my garden. It does help to have worms
in the soil though. If there aren't any they won't show up.
Weeds
Purslane, also known as pigweed, is remarkably tasty.
I was weeding it out of my garden until I learned what it was!
Delicious, slightly sweet, more tasty than lettuce.
It is technically a succulent, thus has a puffy stem and leaves.
The juicy stems of Purslane are high in Vitamin C, but there's more …
- http://landscaping.about.com/cs/weedsdiseases/a/purslane.htm
- Purslane just happens to contain
alpha-linolenic acid, one of the highly sought-after Omega-3 fatty
acids. Why pay money for fish oil when you can grow your own Omega-3
fatty acids as part of your edible landscaping? Especially when it
takes little effort to grow purslane, since it does grow like a
weed. In order to preserve purslane's juiciness for eating, harvest
this delight of your edible landscaping in the morning or evening,
when you won't have to compete with intense sunlight. Purslane can
either be used raw in salads or sauteed as a side dish. In addition
to the crispy texture you would expect from a succulent, purslane
also has an interesting peppery flavor.
Stinging Nettle is another weed in my area, and I know it well having
been stung by brushing against it many times as a child.
The sting eases after about 20 minutes, but in the meantime, pretty awful.
Akin to wasp and bee stings.
However, once steamed as a vegetable or put into soups, it is reportedly
delicious!
I must say, I avoided trying this, having been traumatized in childhood,
but starvation would drive me there, I'm sure.
- http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Plants.Folder/Nettle.html
- I pick in quantity, steam them, freeze them,
put them in soups, stews, and other dishes. Clean and chop nettles
wearing rubber gloves. Once you've cooked them a little, the
stingers are deactivated, and the plant becomes wonderfully edible.
Nettles have a bad reputation as an unpleasant-tasting survival food
in some circles. That's because people don't know how to prepare
them. They often boil them, which is awful. Nettle leaves are good
simmered in soups 5-10 minutes, but my favorite method is the
waterless steaming method. I enjoy nettles as a vegetable side-dish
with rice and beans. Sometimes I make creamed nettles-much more
satisfying than creamed spinach. Because nettles have the richest,
hardiest taste of any green, I often combine them with lighter
ingredients, such as celery, zucchini, lemon juice, or tomato sauce.
I also dry nettles for winter use and tea. It doesn't taste like a
normal tea-not bitter, spicy, minty or lemony. It's more like a
strong stock of a rich, deep, green plant essence, and it's one of
the most nourishing drinks of all. Whenever I feel run down, tired,
or even irritable, I think of making myself some. As food, this
tonic is good for rebuilding the system of chronically ill people.
Nineteenth century literature is full of so-called constitutionally
weak people, who usually die on the last page. In Russia, they were
given freshly squeezed nettle juice-a tonic loaded with iron and
other nutrients-for iron-deficiency anemia. This often worked. Many
of the benefits are due to the plant's very high levels of minerals,
especially, calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, phosphorous,
manganese, silica, iodine, silicon, sodium, and sulfur. They're a
good source of vitamin C, beta-carotene, and B complex vitamins.
Nettles also have high levels of easily absorbable amino acids.
They're ten percent protein, more than any other vegetable.
Dandelion is another completely edible weed.
Dandelions are high in magnesium, calcium, potassium, and Vitamins A and
C.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, they rank among the top
four green vegetables in overall nutritional value.
It was imported to America as a food, but escaped the settlers' gardens
and took over our lawns!
- From the book, Honey from a Weed
/food/tfood17f.htm
- Pick when they are tender enough to eat as a
salad, cook in a large pot of boiling water for 10 minutes and
drain. This takes away some of the bitterness. Blossoms are good
prepared like squash blossoms or elderberry flowers but are best
known for making wine. If the roots are dug in early spring when the
crowns are harvested they make a good vegetable. They should be
peeled, for the outer skin is very bitter. Boil, then drain, then
cook and season like carrots.
Ever hear of Dandelion wine?
The following recipe suggests adding citrus juice and spices for flavor,
and adding sugar to increase the alcohol content, but at its base it is
using fermented dandelion flowers.
As with all bread making or wine making, yeast is necessary, but yeast
spores are in the air all the time.
This is why mold develops on your walls. The spores are in the air.
- http://www.texascooking.com/recipes/dandelionwine.htm
- Wash the dandelion blossoms well. Bring to a
boil and continue to boil for an hour. Strain. Cool. While still
warm (but not hot), stir in the yeast. Let stand overnight and pour
into bottles. Allow uncorked bottles to set in a darkened place for
three weeks. Then cork and store bottles in a cool place. Makes
about 4 quarts.
That warning about leaving the bottle uncorked is important.
I used to make wine in my basement, from sugar and grape juice, on the
cheap.
I made the mistake of capping the bottles once, and had an explosion in
the basement.
Glass and grape juice everywhere!
The fermentation produces gas!
Prickly Pear cactus is another edible weed, if one lives in desert areas.
- Prickly Pear
- /food/tfood17e.htm
- Prickly pear cactus is easy-to-grow and
drought resistant. The plants thrive is sunny arid regions but can't
tolerate snow and frost or extremely wet environments. It is not
isolated to the Arizona deserts as it is found throughout the United
States on the plains as far east as Nebraska and grows along the
Atlantic coast. Throughout Los Angels it is so common that it is
often regarded as a weed. It can produce food year-round. The pads,
fruits, seeds and flowers are all edible and can be prepared in a
variety of ways. Cactus are about 90% water and the easiest way to
obtain water from cactus is to peel the fruit or young pads and eat
them raw. A glue-like liquid can be obtained if you mash and press
the pulp. Diced Pads can be used to thicken soups and stew. The
fruit tastes like watermelon. The seeds can be dried and made into
flour. Peeled pads can be baked like squash or pickled. The peeled
pads can also be sliced thin (like green beans) and boiled. The
fruit ripens in summer and can be used to make drinks, pies, jam,
jellies, ice cream and other desert items. Prickly pear planted
around perimeter of your yard provides a steady supply of food, and
serves as a natural fence through which most animal and human
intruders won't penetrate.
Kudzu is another surprise.
Having lived in the South, I can attest to what a pest Kudzu is.
The vine covers and eventually kills trees, covers abandoned houses so
they disappear from view.
It was brought to the US for errosion control, and soon became a pest.
What to do with Kudzu? EAT it!
- Encarta Encyclopedia
- Kudzu, common name of a vine native to China
and Japan. The flowers, borne on long racemes, are large and purple.
The fruit is a flat, papery pod covered with a tawny down. Kudzu
plants are grown from root cuttings. They produce long, lateral
runners that generate roots at intervals. Kudzu produces edible
roots, and the stems yield a fiber called ko-hemp. Since the
introduction of kudzu into the United States in 1876, it has become
important as a source of hay and forage and for its use in
controlling soil erosion. Kudzu is well adapted to the southern
United States. In northern regions, other legumes, such as clover
and alfalfa, grow more plentifully. As a hay plant, the viny nature
of kudzu makes it difficult to harvest, but as pasturage, kudzu is
valuable for its high protein and vitamin A and D content. Because
of the binding capacity of its long runners, kudzu is valuable in
reducing soil erosion. In some places, however, it has spread into
forest borders, drainage ditches, and other places, and many farmers
and foresters consider it a weed.
The tubers of Kuzu can be dug and eaten like potato.
- Eating Kudzu
http://www.pathcom.com/~bioplus/root.htm
- From ancient times to the present days, the
root of Kudzu has been commonly used in Far Eastern culture as a
food, a rich source of starch. Starch derived from Kudzu Root
contains a high amount of iron, a fair portion of calcium and
phosphorus, and a little sodium. Interestingly, it has more calories
per gram than honey.
The leaves are fodder for livestock but heck, why not as a salad green
for humans!
A Troubled Times member gave it a try, and found them delicious!
- /food/tfood17m.htm
- I tasted Kudzu today. It has a normal leafy
green flavor and could easily be used as a salad item. No
after-taste, no bitterness, your basic lettuce substitute. I was
pleasantly surprised!
There are even grasses that are edible, for humans.
Lemon grass is tropical and used in Tai or Vietnamese dishes, but cannot
tolerate frost.
A cold tolerant grass is Scurvy Grass.
Formerly the fresh herb was used on sea-voyages as a preventative of
Scurvy,
a fatal illness caused by lack of Vitamin C.
- http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/s/scurvy35.html
- Abundant on the shores in Scotland, growing
inland along some of its rivers and Highland mountains and not
uncommon in stony, muddy and sandy soils in England and Ireland,
also in the Arctic Circle, sea-coasts of Northern and Western Europe
and to high elevations in the great European mountain chains.
Cattails are entirely edible:
- /food/tfood17i.htm
- The Paiute eat cattail seeds. A friend of
mine and I were scratching our heads about how they separated the
seeds from so much fluff. Finally we just lit a pile of fluff which
of course disappeared with a poof and continued adding a little at a
time until what was left was some nice toasty seeds. Tasty but tiny.
In addition to edible cattail seeds, spring buds on underground
stems and young shoots can be eaten raw or cooked like asparagus.
Cores of the young leaves can be cooked in the same way. Cook female
flowers which are green and low on the stalks like corn on the cob.
Starchy cores of underground stems in winter can also be ground into
flour.
The list of weeds that are edible goes on and on, and includes Violets,
which can be used as a green salad or cooked and eaten like spinach,
Plantain, which is very high in Vitamin A, Lambsquarters, Lichens,
Puffballs, Burdock roots and Chickweed, among many many others.
Still hungry?
How about some snails, snakes, frogs, or bone soup?
Snails are not necessarily yuck food, as certain snails are a pricey
culinary delight - Escargot.
The preparation of fresh snail is an arduous task
- http://www.rirdc.gov.au/reports/NAP/00-188.htm#_Toc508430523
- The first stage in preparing snails for
human consumption is to purge them on wheat bran or corn meal;
rolled oats can also be used. These products have been found to be
the most effective purging agents as the high percentage of roughage
contained within them will hasten the process of ridding the
digestive system of any soil or other food stuffs. The snails need
to be purged for a period of three days followed by two days of
starvation to completely clean out the snails digestive system. A
misting system should be timed just before dark to encourage the
snails to commence feeding. The misting also delivers moisture for
the snails to drink.
1. remove the membrane if any, over the opening of the shell
2. soak the live snails in enough water to cover them completely.
3. add ½ a cup of salt or ¼ cup of vinegar for every 50 snails.
4. soak the snails in this solution for 4 hours.
5. change the water several times during the 4 hour period.
6. rinse the snails under running water.
7. put snails into cold water and bring to the boil.
8. boil the snails for eight minutes
9. plunge the snails into cold water and drain.
10. with a cocktail fork or some other similar shaped implement
remove the snail from the shell.
Snake is also edible, and tastes, I've been told, just like chicken.
From a Troubled Times member:
- ../food/tfood40a.htm
- Most people who eat snakes prefer larger
ones which can be butchered by removing the rib eye tenderloin along
the spine which will be without bones. It will separate by being
pulled away from the spine, usually intact. The balance of the
carcass will be exceptionally boney and probably best used for
fodder for the crawfish ponds.
Oh, that reminds me! Crawfish is also edible, and can be raised in
crawfish ponds. They eat just about anything.
Again, from a Troubled Times member:
- ../food/tfood03s.htm
- In Australia crawfish are called Yabbies.
They are scavengers and mud dwellers and the hardest part in raising
them is keeping them from migrating. They can be raised in indoor
tanks. They grow really fast, but when growing the big ones tend to
eat the little ones. They practically ate everything I gave them,
dinner leftovers, etc.
Frog legs are another restaurant delicacy.
From another Troubled Times member:
- /food/tfood40b.htm
- In Asia, frog meat is considered a delicacy,
and personally, I prefer frog meat to chicken meat. In Asia, we
didn't have to raise them, there were plenty of them in the rural
area or in the wet rice fields. Up here in Canada, a friend of mine
built a fairly large outdoor fish pond complete with water plants to
make his pond as natural as he could. He caught a bull frog in the
wild and put the frog in the pond, and after the second winter
passed the bull frog survived. During the winter, the bull frog
hibernated. One catches them at night with a flash light. Just shine
the light into the frog's face and catch them by hand. Frog skin can
be very toxic. There was a case here in Canada where a youngster
caught a toad and licked the toad's skin and this youngster was in a
coma for several days. To prepare frogs, one should remove the head
and the skin, just keep the legs and the torso. Deep fried or in
soup, either way they are delicious.
Bones are an excellent calcium source, and bones are softened when boiled
in soups.
- From the A Book About a Thousand Things
/food/tfood30a.htm
- What softens the bones in canned fish? The
bones in canned fish are softened by heat. Canned foods are
processed after the containers are sealed. Processing is heating for
a certain period at temperatures sufficiently high to kill all
organisms that may cause spoilage. It is this heating that softens
the bones in canned salmon, sardines, kippered herring and similar
fish products.
Are we supposed to eat bugs and worms and such?
We are technically omnivores, so the answer is yes.
To quote from the book The Recipe for Living Without Disease
by Aajonus Vonderplanitz, author of The Primal Diet.
It is true that most humans cannot properly
digest the leaves, stalks, and roots of whole raw vegetables,
including seaweeds and dried algae. A human is not an herbivore. Out
intestines are 2 ½ times shorter than most herbivores. We have only
one stomach, while herbivores have 2-4 stomachs. Herbivores have
nearly 60,000 times more enzymes than we have to disassemble
cellulose to obtain the fat and proteins from vegetation and grain.
Vegetable fiber passes through an herbivore's digestive system in
about 48 hours. In our digestive tracts, vegetables complete their
journey in 24 hours. Our gastrointestinal tract is not like that of
birds. Birds can eat a lot of grain and digest it with their
gizzards. We do not have a gizzard.
Our intestinal shape is like some primates who mainly eat fruit.
However, when humans eat a lot of fruit they incur hearlth problems
such as osteoporosis, tooth degeneration, diabetes, and
hyperactivity. Our digestive juices are most similar to carnivores.
In their stomachs, the hydrochloric acid concentration is 15 times
greater than in humans so that they digest meat in 10 hours, which
accommodates their very short intestines. Raw meat and other raw
animal products digest easily and efficiently in our much longer
digestive tract within 16 hours. Lastly, there is the omnivore, such
as the pig, who eats everything. Our digestive tract is similar in
size and action to a pig's.
After the pole shift survivors will often have to eat their food raw.
So much the better, as cooking often destroys nutrients, especially
vitamins.
Quoting again from the book The Recipe for Living Without Disease
Research throughout the world shows that
heat-treatment of food alters, damages, or destroys many vitamins at
standard pasteurization temperatures from 140 to 161 F. All enzymes
are destroyed at prolonged artificial temperatures from 122 F. The
loss of mineral utilization due to cauterization is significant.
Stockholm University in cooperation with Sweden's National Food
Administration showed that cooking carbohydrate-rich foods, such as
bread, cake, biscuits, crisps, donuts and French fries, produces
high quantities of acrylamides. The British Food Standards Agency
confirmed the Swedish findings that acrylamides cause gene mutations
leading to a range of cancers in rats, including breast, uterine,
adrenal and scrotum cancers. The British study revealed levels of
acrylamides 1,280 times higher than international safety limits.
And studies have shown that heating animal fat, as over the barbecue,
generates carcinogens.
But don't we need to cook food in order to kill the germs and parasites?
Studies have shown that kids on farms, who are exposed to what nature
provides, have stronger immune systems than city kids.
Quoting again from the book The Recipe for Living Without Disease
Many tribes ate primarily unsalted raw [food]
from the beginning. They did not wash their hands or sterilize their
food before eating. Every form of natural bacteria, including
salmonella and E. Coli were eaten with their food. From the time
babies are born, they put everything in their mouths, dirt and
microbes. It is believed that babies build immunity through small
benign doses of bacteria, allergens, and pathogens.
But some food needs to be cooked to be safe, for instance any food with
parasites such as tricina.
- http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/jun99/929555302.Mi.r.html
- Pork starts out with a bad reputation:
a) Pork is labeled as "unclean" in some religions.
b) Pork was one of the first foods with a scientifically identified
foodborne pathogen. Over 150 years ago, trichina, a nematode, was
identified as the cause of death of a woman in Germany
And E Coli, though a native in our intestinal tracs, can kill if found in
large quantities in our food.
The real culprit here is a toxin produced by E Coli.
As with Botulism, it is not the germ, but the presence of the toxin it
produces while growing and eating and reproducing that is the threat to
human health and life.
- http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/escherichiacoli_g.htm
- An estimated 73,000 cases of infection and
61 deaths occur in the United States each year. Infection often
leads to bloody diarrhea, and occasionally to kidney failure. Most
illness has been associated with eating undercooked, contaminated
ground beef. Although most strains are harmless and live in the
intestines of healthy humans and animals, this strain produces a
powerful toxin and can cause severe illness. E. coli was first
recognized as a cause of illness in 1982 during an outbreak of
severe bloody diarrhea; the outbreak was traced to contaminated
hamburgers. Meat can become contaminated during slaughter, and
organisms can be thoroughly mixed into beef when it is ground.
And the Zetas advice?
Considering the situation we will find ourselves in, planning to eat bugs,
anticipating this, is a wise move.
- ZetaTalk: Crop Failure,
written July 15, 1995.
- Except for those few who have prepared,
humans surviving the cataclysms will find themselves without food.
In the cities this will happen quickly, as fresh or frozen foods
will spoil due to total power failure, and canned and dried goods
will only go so far. Then what? Rural areas, where one would presume
to find gardens put in and livestock in abundance, will not be much
better off. The drought and irregular weather will have taken their
toll, to say nothing of the cataclysms themselves. How long will a
hungry farmer hand grain to his livestock? He will eat the grain
himself and the livestock, and when he gets hungry enough will eat
his last breeding pair and his seed stock. Gone. Should the reader
think that planting and harvesting will go on as before, they should
realize that the gloom that follows a cataclysm is devastating to
vegetation. If vegetation survives the droughts that precede the
cataclysms and the hail and firestorms and high winds that occur
during the cataclysms then it must next survive an almost continual
deluge and lack of sunlight. In the meantime, humans starve.
In fact, the Zetas specifically recommend eating bugs and grubs!
- ZetaTalk: Crop Adjustments,
written July 15, 1995
- Food stuffs that will do quite nicely on the
gloomy light supplied by the Sun are mushrooms, earthworms, and
various insects that feed on dead tissue. After the cataclysms bugs
will be in abundance, as dead tissue from both plants and animals is
everywhere. This trend can be taken advantage of, as distasteful as
that concept might be to humans who have never eaten a bug. Larva,
grown in humus, can be turned into pureed and creamed soups,
puddings, or omelets by skilled cooks. Those eating the fare would
never guess that the base was not cream, milk, and eggs.