Phosphor wrote:

> 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.

According to Cordain ("Meat-based hunter-gatherer diets" European
Journal of Clinical Nutrition), plant foods account for 23% of the
calories of the diet of Australian aborigines.  I'd call that
significant enough to qualify as important.

Todd Moody
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