Even in the rather inhospitable Australian outback, plants
> are an important part of the hunter-gatherer diet.

no they are not, not in terms of calories. recently i read a book on native
foods by an outback aboriginal. he stressed that plant foods were always the
second option - in terms of supplying calories, not in terms of vitamins
etc - when hunting was poor. Women of course dig for yams, but there is a
lot of effort involved in digging them up and preparing them. in terms of
caloric density animals are infinitely more worthwhile.

andrew