I am a curious person. I want to know why things are. Information is like a drug to me. I can’t get enough of it. Now that someone has coined FOMO (fear of missing out), I know what I have. I have FOMO – bad!

So, a random thing to think about. Who were the people who first ate things and found out it was okay? Last year, my guy and I visited Daniel Boone’s house and took a tour. The guide explained the gardens in the yard and how one was for eating and the other was for medicinal purposes and poisonous. I thought about the way they must have learned what was poisonous and how did they decide who was going to try it?

I mean, think about it. People living thousands of years ago find a walnut in its shell on the ground in the forest. It looks different than a rock, so someone picks it up and examines it. Then the sniff test. It has an interesting smell, so the person tries to bite into it. After they pick up their two teeth from the ground, they realize they must break them open. Then they get the wonderful surprise of a softer item inside that smells even better.

What would you do? Would you eat it, knowing you’re the first to do so? I wouldn’t. But the brute man probably put it on his tongue, and since it didn’t burn, he chewed it and hoped for the best.

Yada yada, we buy walnuts at the store and eat them without ever thinking about some not-so-bright homo sapien in 7,000 BC who first tried it. I would imagine the people of that time knew their lifespans were short, so they had a freer spirit than present people who have comfort, assurance, and play life safer.

I think every person who was a ginny pig, trying foods and supplements should be on some type of plaque :

(like this)

Those Who First Tried Food

*Feng – 314 AD, China

Peeled an orange after it hit his head and didn’t hurt like a rock. The skin ruptured and he peeled it off. The inside was soft and smelled good. He ate it and survived.

*Helaku – 10,000 BC

Discovered blueberries in North America and fed them to his horse. The horse lived and so he tried it.

Mikey -1972

Ate Life cereal and not only survived but liked it!

They are the heroes we need to remember and talk about in social circles with reverence and thanks. I don’t know about you, but I would not have been one of the first to taste things like pineapple, coconut, or guava. Maybe that’s why the island folks started making rum. Their ancestors had to suffer eating the husk of the pineapple and coconut and skin from a guava fruit only to realize it’s the inside that’s edible. I bet rum made it tolerable!

So, the next time you peel that banana and eat it, think about our forefathers or mothers who bravely ingested unknown things so that we can go to the grocery store and buy food that won’t kill us (or send us to the nearest tree in the woods.)

Thank you for reading.

To our ancestors who took a lot of chances,

Francesca

 

* Fictitious names and stories but the dates are accurate.