Famine Food

<p >A <b>famine food</b> or <b>poverty food</b> is any inexpensive or readily-available foodstuff used to nourish people in times of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_poverty" title="Extreme poverty" >extreme poverty</a> or<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starvation" title="Starvation" >starvation</a>, as during a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War" title="War" >war</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine" title="Famine" >famine</a>. Quite often, the food is thereafter strongly associated with the hardship under which it was eaten, and is therefore socially downplayed or rejected as a food source in times of relative plenty.

The characterization of a foodstuff as "famine" or "poverty" food is social, and some foods, such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobster" title="Lobster" >lobster</a> and other <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crustacea" title="Crustacea" class="mw-redirect" >crustacea</a>, are considered poverty food in some societies and luxury food in others.

Foods associated with famine need not be nutritionally deficient. A number of famine foods are quite nutritious—thus their use to nourish and ward off hunger. However, such foodstuffs usually offer limited variability, may tend toward the less savoury end of the spectrum, yet are still consumed in large amounts by and for long periods of time because of the nutritional duress. As such, people often remain averse to them long after the immediate need to consume them has subsided. That remains the case even if such foodstuffs might otherwise constitute a healthy part of a more comprehensive diet.</p>

<h2 >Examples of famine foods</h2>

<p >A number of foodstuffs have been strongly associated with famine, war, or times of hardship throughout history:</p>

<ul >

<li >The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brosimum_alicastrum" title="Brosimum alicastrum" >breadnut</a> or Maya nut was cultivated by the ancient <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_civilization" title="Maya civilization" >Mayans</a>, but is largely rejected as a poverty food in modern Central America.</li>

<li ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutabaga" title="Rutabaga" >Rutabagas</a> were widely used as a food of last resort in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe" title="Europe" >Europe</a> during <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I" title="World War I" >World War I</a>, and remain particularly unpopular in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany" title="Germany" >Germany</a>.</li>

<li >In <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polynesia" title="Polynesia" >Polynesia</a>, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanthosoma" title="Xanthosoma" >Xanthosoma</a> plant (known locally as 'ape) was considered a famine food and was used only in the event that the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taro" title="Taro" >taro</a> crop failed.</li>

<li >The fruit of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noni" title="Noni" class="mw-redirect" >Noni</a>, sometimes also called "starvation fruit," has a strong smell and bitter taste which often relegates it to the level of a famine food.</li>

<li >The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acanthosicyos_horridus" title="Acanthosicyos horridus" >nara melon</a> of southern <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa" title="Africa" >Africa</a> is sometimes eaten as a food of last resort.</li>

<li >Several species of edible <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelp" title="Kelp" >kelp</a>, including <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulse" title="Dulse" class="mw-redirect" >dulse</a> and Irish moss (<i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chondrus_crispus" title="Chondrus crispus" >Chondrus crispus</a></i>), were eaten by coastal peasants during the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)" title="Great Famine (Ireland)" >Irish Potato Famine</a> of 1846-1848.</li>

<li ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calochortus_nuttallii" title="Calochortus nuttallii" >Sego lily</a> bulbs were eaten by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_pioneers" title="Mormon pioneers" >Mormon pioneers</a> when their food crops failed.</li>

<li ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip" title="Tulip" >Tulip</a> bulbs and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_beet" title="Sugar beet" >Sugar beets</a> were eaten in the German occupied parts of the Netherlands during the "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_famine_of_1944" title="Dutch famine of 1944" >hunger winter</a>" of 1944-45.</li>

<li >Pettuleipä (literally <i>pinewood bread</i>) is a bread made from a combination of rye flour and <a href="http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/pettu" class="extiw" title="fi:pettu" >pettu</a>, which is a combination of dried and milled<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vascular_cambium" title="Vascular cambium" >vascular cambium</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phloem" title="Phloem" >phloem</a> of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scots_Pine" title="Scots Pine" >Scots Pine</a>. The result is dark bread which is nutritious but rock-hard and anything but tasty. Also <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaff" title="Chaff" >chaff</a>(<i>silkko</i>) and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sawdust" title="Sawdust" >sawdust</a> is known to have been used on making <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ersatz" title="Ersatz" >ersatz</a> bread in Finland. Pettuleipä constitutes a paragon Finnish example of a famine food.</li>

<li >In <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine" title="Maine" >Maine</a> and on the Atlantic coast of Canada, fish and shellfish were once considered poverty food, and people would bury lobster shells in their yards rather than disposing of them in their rubbish so that neighbors would not learn that they were reduced to eating lobster.<sup id="cite_ref-0" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine_food#cite_note-0" >[1]</a></sup></li>

<li >In <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse:_How_Societies_Choose_to_Fail_or_Succeed" title="Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" >Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed</a>,</i> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Diamond" title="Jared Diamond" >Jared Diamond</a> posits that disdain for seafood, including fish, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringed_seal" title="Ringed seal" >ringed seal</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale" title="Whale" >whale</a>, as poverty food contributed to the collapse of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_Norse" title="Greenland Norse" class="mw-redirect" >Greenland Norse</a>.</li>

<li >During a number of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droughts_and_famines_in_Russia_and_the_Soviet_Union" title="Droughts and famines in Russia and the Soviet Union" >famines in Russia and the Soviet Union</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nettle" title="Nettle" >nettle</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atriplex" title="Atriplex" >atriplex</a> and other types of wild plants were used to make breads or soups. <sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine_food#cite_note-1" >[2]</a></sup></li>

<li ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_(food)" title="Spam (food)" >Spam</a> was widely eaten in the UK during wartime, due to the lack of fresh meat available. Due to the much greater availability of meat, Spam is now used as a sandwich filling and for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_fritter" title="Spam fritter" >Spam fritters</a>, rather than as a replacement for other meat in its own right.</li>

<li ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat" title="Cat" >Cats</a> were eaten in the North Italian regions of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piedmont" title="Piedmont" >Piedmont</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilia_Romagna" title="Emilia Romagna" class="mw-redirect" >Emilia_Romagna</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liguria" title="Liguria" >Liguria</a> in times of famine, such as during <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II" title="World War II" >World War II</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine_food#cite_note-2" >[3]</a></sup></li>

</ul>

<h2 >Positive uses of famine food</h2>

<p >The term "famine food" has also been used to describe <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underutilized_crops" title="Underutilized crops" class="mw-redirect" >underutilized crops</a>--edible plants which are not widely cultivated as food, but which could be cultivated as an alternative food source in the event of widespread crop failure.</p>

<ul >

<li ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staple_food" title="Staple food" >Staple food</a></li>

<li ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taboo_food_and_drink" title="Taboo food and drink" >Taboo food and drink</a></li>

</ul>

<h2 >References</h2>

<li id="cite_note-0" ><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine_food#cite_ref-0" >^{</a></b> }<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article581926.ece" >How lobster went up in the world</a>, The Times Online</li>

<li id="cite_note-1" ><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine_food#cite_ref-1" >^{</a></b> }<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://atn.kharkov.ru/newsread.php?id=42547" >"Бурьян, крапива и лебеда. На одном из харьковских хлебозаводов выпекли "голодоморский" хлеб"</a>, ATN <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kharkiv" title="Kharkiv" >Kharkiv</a>.</li>

<li id="cite_note-2" ><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine_food#cite_ref-2" >^{</a></b>&nbsp};Jim Clancy (2010-02-24). [<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/02/24/italy.chef.cat/index.html" >http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/02/24/italy.chef.cat/index.html</a> "TV chef dropped for cat recipe comments

<ul >

<li ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburger_Helper" title="Hamburger Helper" >Hamburger Helper</a> is considered a poverty food in the Southeastern United States and Appalachian region. The food's low nutrient content has led to malnutrition outbreak in these regions in the 20th century."]. <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNN" title="CNN" >CNN</a></i>.</li>

</ul>

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