On Thursday afternoon I was killing some time and stopped by a nearly defunct shopping center where my son had taken some music lessons years ago. On the side is a bunch of scrub where there happens to be a patch of Greenbrier. This is a wild weed that grows up a bit like a vine and has nasty thorns. However, the new shoots and early leaves are quite good and can be eaten raw. I learned about it years ago in one of Euell Gibbons’ hippy-dippy books about eating weeds. “Organic”, free and tasty.
While I was picking, a young fellow pulled his car up into the shade of a tree there. I was a little hard pressed to explain what I was doing, as my Spanish is a bit rusty and his English was no better. :(
You could also look at Gibbons’ books as essential reading for survivalists.
Years ago, after reading one of Gibbons’ books, I dragged my wife along on a camping trip. We took no food — just Gibbons’ book. We managed to find all sorts of yummy stuff to eat. (Some of it needed to be boiled twice to remove toxins — but that's no weirder than Japanese eating blow-fish.) I've lived in remote areas most of my life (not now) & every year there were stories of people nearly starving to death, after getting lost in the bush. I had absolutely no sympathy for them. They were lost in the middle of an enormous salad bar.