"jmcquown" > wrote in message
...
> The thread about Crab Legs, and also the one about 10 Foods it Takes Guts
to
> Eat, leads me to post this.
>
> Here are a few of my thoughts which don't necessarily count for a hill of
> beans, as some will tell you
>
> I suspect people first decided to eat crabs because they saw sea-birds (or
> maybe even bears in certain areas) cracking them open on rocks and
plucking
> out the meat. Probably the same with oysters, clams, mussels, etc.
>
> Drinking milk is rather a given; human women have always breast fed and so
> do goats, cows, sheep. Naturally it would follow, milk the cow.
>
> Berries and fruit I can also understand; watch the birds and the deer,
they
> eat them so they must be pretty much okay.
>
> But what made that first brave soul pluck a mushroom from the ground and
eat
> it? So many nightshades are deadly. What wild critters were they
watching
> to determine this one was okay and that one wasn't?
>
> Please, discuss!
>

Squirrels, deer, insects, and many other critters snack on mushrooms. BTW
nightshade has nothing to do with mushrooms - it is a plant that contains
the poisons belladonna and atropine.


--
Peter Aitken

Remove the crap from my email address before using.