Calories from wild foods

[Oblio13]

Here's an interesting essay by the author of my favorite foraging books. It's about Chris McCandless, who starved to death in Alaska and became the subject of a book and a movie.

http://www.foragersharvest.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37&Itemid=2

 

[stuart f]

Hi Oblio13,thanks for the link,i have just read the article and found myself nodding my head in agreement.I particularly liked the line where he said that the wilderness areas are so,because they are devoid/or have greatly reduced calorific needs of people.
They are wilderness areas for a reason!

I have bookmarked the site for further reading.

Thanks again.
Cheers Stuart.

 

[CraigM9]

Cheers for the post Oblio 13,

Very interesting essay and share Stu F's views....has also made me dash to look over my Thomas J Elpel 'Botany in a Day' book for some updating & refreshing!!!

Thanks again,

Craig.

 

[forestwalker]

Not having checked his data on the plants it does sound plausible. McCandless *was* an incompetent dreamer (no matter how noble the dream), and anyone who has looked at the caloric contents of wild plants know that you have to gather a metric buttload (the imperial buttload is slightly smaller, and insufficient in this case) in order not to starve. If he had killed one or two moose and done some fishing he could have lived well for a year, assuming competence in taking care of this harvest.

I suspect that McCandless suffered from White Guy Advantage Syndrome ("I'm an educated white guy, so I can quickly and effortlessly master skills that it takes years for the natives to learn", very common in movies and certain types of stories). Hunting at the level he needed is not easy (compare the Norwegian Kristoffer Clausen, who brings years of hunting experience to his experiment, a hunting dog, both a shotgun and a rifle, and *still* has lost quite a bit of weight).

 

[Zingmo]

Thanks for posting this. I like to know the truth behind sensational stories. It is very thought provoking as well. The true story leaves me feeling inadequate and dependent on civilization for calories. The "poison plant fable" gives us a chance to arrogantly deny that we could ever make such a mistake.

I think the Chris McCandless story would have been very different if he had had some good mates.

Z

 

[gregorach]

Yeah, very interesting, and it really does make you appreciate those calorie-rich staples we have access to...

 

[Shewie]

A fascinating read thanks Oblio, I only got half way through but I'll finish it tonight when I get home.

 

[ixion]

That was a very interesting and well argued viewpoint - personally I found it highly convincing.

 

[rik_uk3]

A very good read and thanks for posting it. I sometime cringe when I read posts here about living off the land in the UK, they should read that article and think hard on it.

 

[Ex Member - Sidney Bounty]

I always thought He died cuz he eat the wrong plant mis identified something and in the end that shut his liver/kidneys down and that was how he died....?

 

[Joe]

Very interesting - thanks for posting this. It's nice to read a similar viewpoint from someone else who obviously knows what they're talking about because this is pretty much the same route I've taken in the foraging chapter of my book. I love my food and immediately notice the drop in performance when I don't get enough. So, probably born out of panic at the thought of slowly becoming physically incapable in a situation that would require more physical activity than normal, I've spent quite a bit of time looking into what gives the highest calorie return and how the body might behave if the required number of calories need to come from a source that we might be unfamiliar with in terms of energy conversion.

In order for any of this information to be of any use however, we need to know how many calories we need per day plus the calorie content of the various wild foods out there. For the most part (unless you have an endless supply of cash to spend on lab reports) we have to rely on looking up similar foods that we are familiar with for a rough comparison.

This is only really the start - there's a whole world of in depth information to be learned such as what season a certain plant or animal will have the highest nutritional value thereby giving us the best energy return, which plants are higher in energy than other similar plants (in the case of nuts there's quite a varied calorie count between species and the biggest aren't always the best) and what form the calories will take. In the case of a fairly extended wilderness living experience the long term effects of missing out on a varied and mixed diet would also become important.

It's a really interesting subject if the romantic idea of using your bushcraft skills and knowledge to attempt living off the land appeals. When you sit down and work out the mathematics you'll come back down to earth with an almighty bump!

Any experiments I've undertaken myself have served to highlight all of the above but also to prepare the body and mind for the unpleasant feeling of calorie depletion. Familiarity with these physiological changes helps to prepare mentally for an inevitable drop in performance. Additionally, my experiences have shown me that to be successful in providing enough calories to stay on the right side of calorie deficit you need to either be in just the right location or be extremely resourceful and opportunistic backed up by a detailed knowledge of the environment and the tips and tricks it's local inhabitants have used for thousands of years to keep their heads above water. As Sam Thayer also points out, living from the land in order to get enough calories to thrive and not just survive, is in reality, a full time job.

Of course, the above waffle is the perfect excuse for stocking up on excess calories when you can! That's why my previously baggy trousers now look like skinny jeans...

 

[Mahikan]

Wow that was a very good article I have always held back from reading the book or seeing the film Into the Wild, now I know why.

Mors Kochanski, who I trained with as a survival instructor, has some very set ideas of when we should eat or not as the case maybe. Many of these practised ideologies he preaches are mentioned in the Society of Primitive skills website in an article by Stuart Goring.
Certainly here in the Canadian bush depending on the season if you cant trap or hunt you die!

Dave
www.mahikan.ca

 

[gregorach]

I always thought He died cuz he eat the wrong plant mis identified something and in the end that shut his liver/kidneys down and that was how he died....?

Aye, that's what the book / film says, but the linked article goes into great depth about why that's almost certainly not true.

 

[Ryecroft]

Living off the land is obviously really difficult.

Disappointed that this chap had to give up what promised to be a really interesting experiment.

A little digging into his blog and the history also makes a good read:-

http://wildmanwildfood.blogspot.com/