FraidKnot
Washing Up
Ever wonder how we knew what to eat? For example, oysters. What on earth ever possessed anyone to crack open and oyster and eat it? The only thing I can figure is at some point we saw sea birds and other critters knocking them against rocks and eating what was inside and decided hmmmm, that must be good. (Personally I don't like oysters unless they are battered and fried but many people love raw oysters.) Who ever thought to grab a lobster? They aren't particularly pretty and they don't look like they'd be tasty. Crawfish? I love crawfish but I never would have thought they'd be tasty just by looking at them.
Same thing with mushrooms and other wild vegetables like asparagus or fiddlehead ferns. (I had fresh fiddlehead ferns once, long story, shipped to me from a guy in Maine... they taste a bit like asparagus, actually!). We must have, at some point, observed wildlife eating this or that. Otherwise how would we have known? Of course if you make the wrong choice, especially with something like mushrooms, you find out pretty quickly you picked the wrong thing! You're either deathly ill or you're dead.
I remember a movie that Clint Eastwood was in when he was still a young guy, 'The Beguiled'. Set in the Civil War and he wound up at an all girl's school in the South. Took advantage of the ladies there after he'd been nursed back to health. They ganged up on him and served mushrooms at dinner... which none of them ate but they encouraged him to eat. You get the gyst!
Anyway, I do wonder sometimes how we knew what to eat and what not to eat and I can only figure it was wildlife that led us to the good safe food.
Fraidy
Same thing with mushrooms and other wild vegetables like asparagus or fiddlehead ferns. (I had fresh fiddlehead ferns once, long story, shipped to me from a guy in Maine... they taste a bit like asparagus, actually!). We must have, at some point, observed wildlife eating this or that. Otherwise how would we have known? Of course if you make the wrong choice, especially with something like mushrooms, you find out pretty quickly you picked the wrong thing! You're either deathly ill or you're dead.
I remember a movie that Clint Eastwood was in when he was still a young guy, 'The Beguiled'. Set in the Civil War and he wound up at an all girl's school in the South. Took advantage of the ladies there after he'd been nursed back to health. They ganged up on him and served mushrooms at dinner... which none of them ate but they encouraged him to eat. You get the gyst!
Anyway, I do wonder sometimes how we knew what to eat and what not to eat and I can only figure it was wildlife that led us to the good safe food.
Fraidy
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