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Ever Eat a Pine Tree?
Many Parts Are Edible
Who’s old enough to remember those lines spoken by Euell Theophilus Gibbons, promoting Grape Nuts cereal? The words were scripted by ad reps, but spoken by the naturalist Gibbons. I’m certain that I am not the only person of my generation who mimicked those words in my best “folksy” voice to get a laugh. I don’t know how many boxes of Grape Nuts were sold with that ad campaign (how many folks actually get excited about eating pine trees?), but the comedy value of those words is priceless.
Actually, Euell Gibbons was a highly skilled forager and author of many books, including Stalking the Wild Asparagus; a book honored with a New York Times review from restaurant critic Craig Claiborne. Gibbons considered foraging a radical act, a way to survive independently by not relying on foods from the supermarkets that are produced in the chemical-laden soils of the industrial agriculture giants.
I get what I can from my local farmers’ markets, but I also depend on the supermarket, where the prices of food are jumping by dollars every week. Never mind the many empty shelves.
