I was once fed “cattail muffins” while playing soldier; it was like eating brown-paper grocery bags.
I chewed on one for about a half-hour, at the end of which it was no more swallowable than when I had started, at which point I spat it out, determining that if cattail muffins were all that stood between me and starvation, I was starving to death.
Somebody was pulling your leg.