If you pull up the following PDF file and scan to the section on "Roots 
and tubers", there is an interesting discussion that applies to recent 
posts on roots and tubers that has been ongoing. Farther down there is a 
discussion under "Seeds" of cereal seeds and farther on some legumes. 
All these were available without agriculture but some "technology" was used.

Australian Aboriginal plant foods: a consideration of their nutritional 
composition and health implications
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=3&url=http%3A%2F%2Fjournals.cambridge.org%2Fproduction%2Faction%2FcjoGetFulltext%3Ffulltextid%3D593416&ei=658tSIOqH4WIpATJ99XFAQ&usg=AFQjCNFIYLNv15KQxNPyLuV4l_dij3whFw&sig2=lQPaqsz0Ls41vyPhtuc4NA
http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2FNRR%2FNRR11_01%2FS0954422498000043a.pdf&code=aa215b593ea11deda467b20ce538f628

Abstract

For at least 40-50000 years, plants played an important but 
supplementary role in the animal-dominated diet of Australian Aboriginal 
(AA) hunter-gatherers. New knowledge of the nutrient composition and the 
special physiological effects of their foods provides another 
perspective in the current debate on the composition of the prudent’ 
diet and the diet on which humans evolved. In the present paper we have 
calculated the average nutrient composition of over *800 Aboriginal 
plant foods* (in total and by food group) and highlighted the 
differences between these and modem cultivated foods. The data enable us 
to calculate the absolute contribution of plant foods to total food and 
nutrient intake of traditional living AA. If plants provided 20-40% of 
the energy in the diet (the most likely range), then plants would have 
contributed 22-44 g protein, 18-36 g fat, 101-202 g carbohydrate, 40-80 
g fibre and 90-180mg vitamin C in a 12500kJ (3000kcal) diet. Since all 
the carbohydrate came from plant foods, the traditional AA diet would 
have been relatively low in carbohydrate (especially starch) but high in 
dietary fibre in comparison with current recommendations. Over half the 
carbohydrate could have been in the form of sugars derived from fruit 
and honey. The low glycaemic index of their carbohydrate foods, however, 
would generate a relatively low demand for insulin secretion and this 
characteristic may have protected AA from a genetic predisposition to 
insulin resistance and its consequences (non-insulin-dependent diabetes 
mellitus, coronary heart disease, obesity). The dietary pattern and 
active lifestyle of recent hunter-gatherers such as AA may be a 
reference standard for modem human nutrition and a model for defence 
against diseases of affluence.

<BIG SNIP>

Roots and tubers

Aboriginal people ate many kinds of roots, tubers and bulbs. The ones 
that stand out are the Dioscorea species (yams), and Ipornoea costata 
(wild potato), Cyperus species (native onion) the yam daisy, Microseris 
scapigeris. Many of the roots contained a poison which was removed by 
extensive leaching in running water. Some have a composition which is 
similar to a potato with about 15-20% carbohydrate, but others are more 
like a carrot with much less carbohydrate and less energy, but lots of 
fibre. Many roots and tubers (for example Microseris scapigeris) 
contained an unabsorbable carbohydrate called inulin which is thought to 
promote a healthy intestinal flora (Incoll et al. 1989). In the Tables 
we are unable to distinguish between
the roots that were high in inulin and those high in starch.

In the Central Desert the tubers of Ipomoea costata and Vigna lanceolata 
and the bulbs of Cyperus bulbosus were important staples available 
during any season with suitable rainfall and thereafter they are 
preserved underground indefinitely (O’Connell et al. 1983). Sweeney 
(1947) writes of the desert yam as “the most remarkable of the native 
foods that nature has developed in the desert providing a nutritious 
food under hard conditions which can be harvested at any time of the 
year”. Sweeney’s desert yam was probably Ipomoeu costata, not Dioscorea 
sp. as was originally thought (Meggitt, 1957). The tubers found 50 to 
lOOcm underground and are harvested by digging with yam sticks and using 
wooden food vessels as shovels. Tubers of I. costata up to the size of a 
human head were once obtained. They can be eaten raw or cooked and have 
a slightly sweet taste.

The average nutrient composition of all the AA roots (n = 65 ), tubers 
(n = 86) and bulbs (n=30) is shown in Tables 1 and 2. Compared with 11 
cultivated rootstocks, AA roots and tubers are slightly lower in water 
(76 v. 70 %) but fairly similar in protein (1.6 v. 2 %) and fat (0 v. 
0.5 %). The AA rootstocks are apparently similar in carbohydrate (17-22 
%) to cultivated varieties (19 %), but the figure for AA is a likely 
overestimate. The fibre content of AA roots and tubers is at least 8% 
(an underestimate) compared with only 2% in the cultivated bulbs such as 
onions and leeks. AA bulbs (n = 30) are more desiccated (average 
moisture 56 % v. 90 % in cultivated bulbs) and significantly higher in 
carbohydrate compared with cultivated foods (3 v. 5 %). The vitamin C 
content of AA roots and bulbs averages only 8-11 mg/lOOg, while the 
tubers are a much better source with 46 mg/100 g, although the variation 
is very high. The thiamin and riboflavin content of the wild and 
cultivated varieties is similar.

<CONTINUES>

Writers often comment on the wide range of vegetable foods available to 
hunter-gatherers which contrasts with the relatively narrow variety of 
crops produced by agriculture. AA across Australia ate some 300 
different fruit species and 150 varieties of roots and tubers. However, 
we do not know to what extent AA exploited all the species available or 
limited themselves to an optimal foraging strategy based on relatively 
few species. In the animal-dominated diets of AA, plants were 
subsidiaries, not dietary mainstays that we recommend today.

<CONTINUES>

--

Steve