well, yes, early colonials in the americas ran into the same issue with corn. but thats not ALL plants.
On Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 2:38 PM, Jed Rothwell <[email protected]> wrote: > I wrote: > >> There are even records of people stuck on desert islands and in the >> Australian outback without fire who had plenty of food yet starved to death. >> Some did; others were emaciated but lived to tell the tale. > > It is even worse! Wrangham describes this in chapter 1: > > > In 1860 Robert Burke and William Wills led an ill-fated expedition from > southern to northern Australia. "When they ran out of food they asked the > local Yandruwandha aborigines for help. The Yandruwandha were living on the > abundant nardoo plant. They pounded nardoo seeds into a bitter flour, washed > it, and then cooked it. The explorers liked the flour but apparently omitted > the washing and cooking. The result was disaster. "I am weaker than ever," > wrote Wills, "although I have a aood appetite, and relish the nardoo much, > but it seems to give us no nutriment." Burke and Wills died from poisoning, > starvation, or both. However, they had a companion who survived and joined > the Yandruwandha, ate lots of cooked nardoo flour, and was in excellent > condition when he was rescued ten weeks later. > > > - Jed > >
