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Date: | Tue, 6 Mar 2007 00:12:30 +0000 |
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On Mar 05, 2007, at 10:31 pm, Paleo Phil wrote:
> If nightshades were selectively bred to reduce toxin content, that
> indicates
> to me they were probably not eaten much, if at all, during the
> Paleolithic.
Not at all, I thought? Aren't (virtually) all nightshades new world
foods? (I stand to be corrected...)
> Do you know why Cordain and Audette consider nightshades Paleo?
I think Audette goes more by the principle "if you can eat it with
nothing but a sharp stick" than by working out which plants were
actually available to us. I kinda go along with this... I'm sure
paleo man came across a lot of plants at one point or another that
were new. As for Cordain, didn't he say that Canola oil is paleo?
I'm no botanist, but it seems that a lot of plants share similar
toxins (oxalic acid springs to mind), so it's not like our species
has to evolve in the face of every new vegetable. Solanine is a new
one to me and apparently is something the human body doesn't like too
much. I imagine there are species of wild tomato and pepper that are
edible raw in reasonable quantities. Also, new world settlers would
have eaten *ripe* nightshade fruits, not ones picked green a week
before they hit the supermarket shelves.
I don't think the presence of toxins alone is a reason to discount a
food entirely. Elderberries are mildly poisonous raw (I didn't know
this when I first ate them - just like I didn't know taro is
poisonous raw until I'd already had a piece!), but I think they're
nice cooked. But they only grow for a month or two of the year so
there's no real risk eating them. Out-of-season vegetables have a
lot to answer for!
Ashley
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