Phosphor wrote:

> > the diet would have varied with latitude. I am  challenging the >idea that
> a paleo diet contains precious few carbohydrates.
> i agree you're right here, when it comes to the tropics. fruit that comes
> into season twice a year.

I have lived in the sub-tropics, Central America, and
visited another tropical area, South East Asia, in different
seasons. In Guatemala there is fruit year around, but in the
dry season (winter, basically) much less. We still had
access to some variety of fruits though, even in the winter.
The rest of the year there was always something coming into
season, a great variety of local fruits that are not well
known in the US. The peasant farmers I was living among made
use of a lot of wild resources, fruits and vegetables. I
don't remember them harvesting any wild starchy vegetable
though, mainly greens and fruit.

In tropical Asia there is plentiful fruit all year round, at
least in the non-desert areas. Of course, good fruit species
have been transplanted from around the world, so the variety
in some sense of the word is greater now than ever before.
We may have more variety now than our ancestors had of the
most digestible fruits, though they would have eaten a great
many things we don't much now.

I ate my first persimmon of the fall today, a windfall that
had ripened early. It was sweet like honey. Wild persimmons
are edible in a sense, but must be absolutely fully ripe,
almost overripe to be edible. I eat them, they grow all
around here in the hills, but I don't know anyone else who
does. Too astringent even ripe.