Could You Survive on Insects and Berries?
Do you have any bushcraft skills? If you were lost in the wild do you have the skills to build a shelter, start a fire, find water and locate some food? And would you be able to recognise what is safe to eat?
Living in our modern, convenience food world we have all lost touch with the sources of our food. Some children grow up in our modern cities without any hands-on experience of where their food actually comes from. I once met a young man who had no idea that burgers were made from beef. I can’t imagine what he thought they were made from.
There are no convenience stores or all night supermarkets in the wilderness. It’s a useful skill to be able to recognise what is safe to eat and what is potentially harmful. You may have seen Bear Grylls surviving in some of the most inhospitable locations on the planet where he always finds and eats whatever he can find. Something you may have noticed is that Bear is never without his bushcraft knife, an essential survival tool.
Wild berries can be a valuable form of food. Our ancestors would have gathered nuts, berries and grain when in season and either eaten these raw or prepared them in some way. But some berries can be deadly poisonous.
Yew berries are very poisonous causing many poisonings every year. They are very bright scarlet in colour with an indentation at the base, about 8 to 10mm in diameter. The berries look deceptively appetising which has resulted in many young children being taken to the emergency room.
Deadly Nightshade is another of the berries which puts people in hospital every year. The clue is in the name, but the trick is being able to recognise the plant. This plant is also commonly known as Belladonna, producing sweet berries that can be irresistibly attractive to young children.
A potential source of protein, although somewhat distasteful to many, are insects. Most insects are actually edible, but some taste better than others. Most insects are actually very high in protein but low in fat.Grasshoppers, crickets, wood grubs and mealworms are all a safe bet for eating. Most insects taste better when barbecued and you can even grind them up into a flour like powder.
Birds, rabbits and other small animals are all generally good to eat, but not so easy to catch. This is particularly true if you are lost in the wilderness without any form of weapon. Without a weapon you will possibly need to construct some sort of trap if you really want to catch an animal.
You may have read this thinking that you will never be lost in the wild, so desperately hungry that you would eat your own socks. But this really could happen to you. All you need to do is stray from a main pathway through a forest and you can quickly become disoriented and be unable to find your way back to the path. That’s when you’ll wish you’d paid more attention to Ray Mears Extreme Survival.
