Dr. Ede's excellent post can be found here.
I am not an expert but some of those comments I've read on Dr. Ede's post are completely hilarious. I live on the Canadian prairies. I dare you to go out and forage for plants even now in April as we have snow on the ground at the moment. Now going further north by 1500 km to Yellowknife NWT which is as far as public transportation (air not roads) will take you, you will find you're still hundreds of miles south of where some of the Inuit live. So from here to the northern regions is a good 2000 to 2500 km distance. People have no idea how cold and inhospitable the climate is there.
Some of the first nations peoples who live closer to me are able to forage for plants maybe from May to October or November. They pick berries and add them to their pemmican and do a lot of fishing and hunting. The Inuit, however, are bound by ice and snow most of the year and 6 months of that is in almost total darkness. You really think they will be foraging for lichens during that time even if lichen were around which I highly doubt that far north?
Each Inuit area is different but I'm sure that plants play a very, very small role in their diets and if their lives depended on them they would have died out long ago. There is no reason whatsoever to even go into what plants they may have or may not have eaten. They make no difference to the life-giving properties of the meat and fat they usually eat. Wish the plant lovers would just grow up and realize that everything we need, including vitamin C (organ meats) and be found in meat.
The fact that they are questioning the findings of Vilhjalmur Stefansson, who would have no reason to lie, shows me they are threatened in some way by this information.
[evil grin] I saw who left the comments and didn't read 'em. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI thought some of the comments were of the look-how-much-I-know variety; they were just nit-picking.
ReplyDeleteFruit and veg are thin on the ground here in Colorado, too: it's too dry for them. Yet the Plains Equestrian Indians were the tallest people in the world in the late 1800s.
(Not sure if my last comment was published--if so, please disregard.)
I enjoyed the spruce needle comments as if spruce trees grow north of the treeline. Sorry no spruce trees up there. Also, some of the grazing animals move further up north during the summer months but they definitely move back south quickly once September comes around.
ReplyDeletePeople, plants don't and can't grow anywhere near an area that has no daylight for approximately 6 months of the year.
Well, I live in Florida now , and in my area it would be very difficult to live on plants. Yes, there is a lot of green vegetation around, but if you are not a goat, it is not very useful. There are some berries in small amounts during couple months, acorns, wild pecans (hard as a rock with tiny amount of eatable material), middles of some palms are eatable, end of young shots are eatable as well at the beginning of growing season. In contrast, there are plenty of oysters and fish in estuaries year round, turtles, alligators, deers, armadillos. Who in a right mind would choose sustain on plants in a such environment? Indians didn't. They are gone, killed not only by Spaniards but mostly by old world regular deceases like chicken pox , however huge mountains of oyster shells are still there. Spaniards lift written accounts about Native People of Florida being tall and beautifully build.
ReplyDeleteHi Horf
ReplyDeleteFirstly thanks to Tess and her link to your blog, then our own blog link, I often pop over and read your items. It is always good to see others views, exchange of ideas, how things differ country to country. Just your first paragraph about where you live, it does give us an idea of what it may be like to live elsewhere. As I look out of my window we have bright cloud and its quite pleasant. So for your comment "People have no idea how cold and inhospitable the climate is there." it does make you think.
Meat, Fish , Vegetables are good things to eat but years ago where you live and what was available is what you ate and people survived.
Jan
I have publicly challenged anyone in the paleosphere to come to North Bay in winter and find me all those safe starches my ancestors ate. I also challenged them to come in the spring and summer.
ReplyDeleteEven in summer 15 to 20% of calories from carbs max if you find blueberries before the bears.
Of course, like you I can actually look at my window and see these people are fools.
Good post.
Hey, nevermind the paleosphere, I work with a vegan and every now and then when the opportunity presents itself, especially in winter, I make some snide remark under my breath but so everyone can hear me on trying to forage for plant matter outside. Oh the fun!
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