In my last post I gave the wrong link for the article Cultural Uses of Native Plants by Sue Scheele. I gave the URL for the contents page of the journal it was in, instead of the article.
Here's the correct link:
www.rnzih.org.nz/RNZIH_Journal/Pages_10-16_from_2007_Vol10_No2.pdf
It's a great article.
Nikki - thanks for letting me know the link was wrong!
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3 comments:
That is a good article. This adds to a feeling I had while on the wild foods walk when all I could think was "these weeds are not going to fill my belly if I were starving" and "surely the Maori had carb sources they could rely on". I asked Steve about it, but he admitted to not knowing a lot about edible carbs and the contradictory info available out there on what was ok and what wasn't. This article discusses them, but it seems everything takes a lot to forage and process to get rid of the poisonous or carcinogenic properties. Frustrating. I'd love to do a course on eating tradionally in NZ and how to harvest those carb sources.
Yes, I agree. When I heard about the Wild Food Walk (and thought I was going to be able to go!) the first thing I thought was - I want to learn more about harvesting roots and underground things!
There must be some introduced plants that could also be good sources of carbs if harvested right.
The greens are the easy bit, aren't they. And I've often wondered if this adds weight to the theory that as humans, most of us are built to eat a LOT more greens and a lot less starch/sugars than we do.
Re Maori - yes - it's amazing the deep knowledge they developed of the best ways to harvest and prepare these foods. As the article mentions of course though, Maori did rely heavily on horticulture as well as foraging, and in many regions had always been very good gardeners. Adapting kumara to NZ's temperate climate is their most well-known achievement I guess.
Their most well-known gardening achievement I mean!!!
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