On Sat, 10 Feb 2001 13:55:36 -0700, Dori Zook <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>>I understand it is the cellulose that is indigestible.
>>
>>Cows eat grass- they have four stomachs and they chew it twice.
>
>Bingo, Lorenzo!  Humans might be able to eat a bit of grass from time to
>time, but with only one stomach, we can't rely on grass as a staple.

True, mainly because our *colon* is to short to allow for enough cellulose
digesting bacteria. Some are active there , however.
Grass seeds need to be soaked or grinded to give access to the nutritious
inner contents. Or eaten unripe (like "Gruenkern").

> But
>"The Origin Diet" author apparently says grass was a staple in many
anchient
>diets.  I'd love to know where she got THAT.

I hate to repeat  myself, but it looks you didn't see that:
<<
 Harlan, Jack R. (1989). Wild-grass seed harvesting in the Sahara and
  Sub-Sahara of Africa. In: Foraging and farming: the evolution of plant
  exploitation (Harris, DR & Hillman GC, eds). London, Unwin Hyman:

  Over 60 species of grasses have been harvested for their grains in Africa.
  Most of these are famine or scarcity foods or are harvested casually and
  opportunistically. Several species, however, have provided food on a
  massive scale and have been staples for a number of tribes.
  ... >> For more see
 http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?A2=ind9808&L=paleodiet&P=R393

I suppose you realize that "cereals" are the seeds of grass.
In this way at least for some human traits grasses are not only a possible
staple, but even a probable way of nutrition.
Whatever is edible.

There are more reports on how easy it was to collect weeks and months worth
of nourishment by collecting *wild grains* within a short time
(I think i also saw it on paleodiet).

At last, most grasses are annual, they only live one year.
That means that they have to put most of their metabolic energy into the
*seed*, only this it what survives to the next year.
This is why grass seeds are so nutritious and why such a very big percentage
of the bioproduction (of a landscape bearing annual grass) is beeing
transformed into grains.

regards
Amadeus S.