A few catchup things before New Year's blogging commences...
First, a food manifesto I can get behind, at least as an ideal.
But foraging can be dangerous if you don't know what you are doing-- if you are not conscientious or at least CONSCIOUS. Here is a harrowing first- person account by someone who ate toxic Amanitas. I winced as I read these words:
"You know that feeling you have when you are young and feel invincible? Well, as I walked out of the wooded area I was in, I found some young mushrooms. Their caps were hanging down like closed umbrellas. I mistook them for inky caps (Coprinus spp.) even though I spotted an Amanita nearby–its cap was fully open, and not hanging down. Thinking back, I should have been more suspicious as mushrooms do grow in colonies."
Do. Not. Ever. Do. This. You know the cliche about old pilots, bold pilots, and that there are no old bold pilots? Count it double for mycologists.
2 comments:
Simpler food manifesto by M.Pollan in Defense of Food (reading now): "Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
Pretty simple. I don't know about the "mostly plants" part though. Or the "not too much."
:-)
Sounds like that guy willfully ignored an awful lot of warning signs: he'd make a great economist.
Though I'm all for intelligent foraging, I'm really not sure that "Do not buy food" passes the categorical imperative test, even if acknowledged as an unrealistic ideal.
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