[Age of Reason]

We don't can goods with tin any more (a la Simon), and eventually we won't can them with aluminum either.

And if naturally occurring game and plant products were not so scarce relative to our numbers, we wouldn't need to bother about canning anything.

We'd just go for a short walk and find something fresh to eat--but nature is no longer capable of supplying free and fresh food to the world's bloated population.

[technochick99]

And if naturally occurring game and plant products were not so scarce relative to our numbers, we wouldn't need to bother about canning anything.

What about climates, seasons, etc.?

Has anything ever been in abundance, or has man caused abundance? My vote is that man has caused it.

[LexBaird]

We'd just go for a short walk and find something fresh to eat--but nature is no longer capable of supplying free and fresh food to the world's bloated population.

Spoken like someone who has never tried to "live off the land". There was never a time when any significant population could be supported by hunter/gatherer methods.

Food was never free. It has always been a life and death struggle that left almost no time for any other activity, until the advent of agriculture freed man to develop civilization, let alone reach the 'age of reason'.

Or perhaps you think following a bison herd as it migrated was easy times. Sure, just take a short walk and cut a steak off a bull moose for dinner, grub up a few wild potatos and live high on the bounty of nature.

[The Old Hoosier]

Free and fresh food? When was that available? Certainly not as long as we've had language.