Native fruits ,vegetables, and greens. Midwestern

[AnopsStudier]

Im trying to find some links or books on wild native fruits , vegetables and edibles in the midwest and all over the US. but right now i currently live in the midwest (Northern Illinois)..

I kind of dont agree with eating fruits and vegetables that werent growing here originally.. Not that its unhealthy but Im just trying to become connected to nature and the original native foods!

Where can I find a list of native edibles for different states or regions?

[lena]

I don't think it's so much the fact that the fruit wasn't grown in your area originally, but that any exotic fruits you can buy were grown on huge monoculture farms and shipped long distances so they are low in nutrients and are sometimes treated with stuff to make them ripen or stay fresh.

You could go to a local farmers market where the produce is sure to be from your area. Then you will know it is local and similar to what types of fruits would grow wild in your area.

Also I think that fruit from organic local farms is better for you than huge farms because it has more nutrients and is grown in a more wild way so it is closer to the wild thing. When I eat fruit from the grocery store I break out and have stomach problems but local fruit from the farmers market seems to be OK.

The only produce I've been eating from the grocery store lately is jicima.

SO, i think any fruit that is grown locally on small farms will be most similar to what would grow native/wild.

[nummi]

Im trying to find some links or books on wild native fruits , vegetables and edibles in the midwest and all over the US. but right now i currently live in the midwest (Northern Illinois)..

I kind of dont agree with eating fruits and vegetables that werent growing here originally.. Not that its unhealthy but Im just trying to become connected to nature and the original native foods!

Where can I find a list of native edibles for different states or regions?

When talking about native and US, are you Indian (native american)? Otherwise those fruits are not "native" to you; you should look back at your ancestry and where they lived (thousands of years back).

[eveheart]

When talking about native and US, are you Indian (native american)? Otherwise those fruits are not "native" to you; you should look back at your ancestry and where they lived (thousands of years back).

But what kind of huge differences do you think you'll find in edible berries or edible greens or edible animal flesh from one ancestral home over another? Within their various classes, all foods are more similar than different. This is not something that has to be researched. We've most of us eaten foods from all over, and after all is said and done, each class of edible is more-or-less like the other. Yes, the difference between an apple and a pear is delightful, but the range of macro- and micro-nutrients pretty much gets covered anywhere you go.

[nummi]

But what kind of huge differences do you think you'll find in edible berries or edible greens or edible animal flesh from one ancestral home over another? Within their various classes, all foods are more similar than different. This is not something that has to be researched. We've most of us eaten foods from all over, and after all is said and done, each class of edible is more-or-less like the other. Yes, the difference between an apple and a pear is delightful, but the range of macro- and micro-nutrients pretty much gets covered anywhere you go.

Personally, I'd say consume whatever fruits and berries you can get your hands on, no matter where they come from, but as long as they're the real thing (not commercial devoid of nutrients kind, unless no other option).
The reason I said what I said was because the OP talked about native fruits and berries in US. The only reason I'd see a point for that was if wanted to eat what predecessors did; a certain people living in a certain area having adapted better to those particular fruits and berries over thousands of years. Otherwise, doesn't matter at all.

[jessica]

Go to the library, or google, "wild edible plants Midwest"  There are thousands of identification books on the subject and borrowing them from the library will allow you access to a multitude and you will be able to weed out any redundant or poor quality books.

Read up, study, look at pictures, find local foraging groups/identification walks.  Go out and walk around in your neighborhood, in the forest, out on the prarie, and take those books with you, look up every plant you come across.  You have to actually be out in nature to become familiar with it.

[AnopsStudier]

When talking about native and US, are you Indian (native american)? Otherwise those fruits are not "native" to you; you should look back at your ancestry and where they lived (thousands of years back).

This holds little weight.  What if a person is Hawaiin, Irish, Japanese, and Cuban but born in Australia?
I am starting to believe that the human body can adapt to any environment.   (maybe not the arctic)
Take for example when an athlete goes to areas of high altitude (colorado, big bear ,california etc.)
there bodies are not in tune with the elevation at first but over time they start producing more red blood cells
due to the lack of oxygen.  Why is it hard to believe that humans can adapt and thrive in other surroundings when it comes to nutrition??? 

Our early african ancestors somehow migrated to Europe so they werent obviously eating the diet there ancestors were eating...  But they adapted and evlolved

[AnopsStudier]

Personally, I'd say consume whatever fruits and berries you can get your hands on, no matter where they come from, but as long as they're the real thing (not commercial devoid of nutrients kind, unless no other option).
The reason I said what I said was because the OP talked about native fruits and berries in US. The only reason I'd see a point for that was if wanted to eat what predecessors did; a certain people living in a certain area having adapted better to those particular fruits and berries over thousands of years. Otherwise, doesn't matter at all.

I believe that the food provided by the environment you live in, is the food supposed to be consumed by people (and animals) living there.   So if it doesnt naturally grow in the wild where you live... why eat it?
 

[nummi]

I believe that the food provided by the environment you live in, is the food supposed to be consumed by people (and animals) living there.   So if it doesnt naturally grow in the wild where you live... why eat it?
 

If there weren't present ways of transportation and travel, an easy way to get fruits and berries from the other side of the planet (as good as stuck in the certain region you live), then sure.

I always thought eating food native to a region was about a people's bodies having adapted better to those foods as a result of a very long period (thousands and tens of thousands of years) of living there, 'cause honestly, otherwise the idea of eating only native foods to a specific land is kind of stupid.
If one moves to another region, with other kinds of fruits and berries the person's body hasn't specifically adapted to the way I described...

As well, on a broader scale. Humanity is and will continue to progress onward, science and technology will keep advancing. Humans will not be limited to their native regions as we once were. Go ahead even farther, I mean manned interstellar travel, and colonization (must look at things positively, even though they're really fucked up right now). Eating everything from every region (quality stuff...) would the best decision even in the long run. If it's actual food, and your body can metabolize it without problems, then eat it.

[AnopsStudier]

If there weren't present ways of transportation and travel, an easy way to get fruits and berries from the other side of the planet (as good as stuck in the certain region you live), then sure.

I always thought eating food native to a region was about a people's bodies having adapted better to those foods as a result of a very long period (thousands and tens of thousands of years) of living there, 'cause honestly, otherwise the idea of eating only native foods to a specific land is kind of stupid.
If one moves to another region, with other kinds of fruits and berries the person's body hasn't specifically adapted to the way I described...

As well, on a broader scale. Humanity is and will continue to progress onward, science and technology will keep advancing. Humans will not be limited to their native regions as we once were. Go ahead even farther, I mean manned interstellar travel, and colonization (must look at things positively, even though they're really fucked up right now). Eating everything from every region (quality stuff...) would the best decision even in the long run. If it's actual food, and your body can metabolize it without problems, then eat it.

Nice Post Nummi.   right now i am using Anopsology to go through a transition.. Kind of like Im detoxing my body form years of bad cooked and junk food.  So Im re programming myself to use my instincts.  So I am eating foods from all over the world...but

I asked this question in another thread but...

How much do our genes have to do with our nutritional needs?  Personally being from all over northern Europe am I wired for those type of foods?  And in sense wouldnt I be better off living there?  or does that just sound crazy?

[nummi]

How much do our genes have to do with our nutritional needs?  Personally being from all over northern Europe am I wired for those type of foods?  And in sense wouldnt I be better off living there?  or does that just sound crazy?

That depends how long past peoples remained in the same place. They adapted to those foods, then moved, adapted to those foods, moved again, etc., till they got back to the same region they "began" their journey. By then those foods had no doubt changed a bit, not exactly the same as before but genetically speaking they had had experience with them. And so for millions of years.
Then, say, two different groups that when looking back could be traced to the exact same origin, and now from regions the other had never been to, meeting and merging/mixing, sharing genetic data.
Don't know for sure "scientifically", just a possibility. As well, it is no secret peoples/tribes in the past from different regions have merged/mixed, and do to this time.

As to being from northern Europe, where did those people originate from?

Considering genetic "experience" you should be, theoretically, be best living off wherever your ancestors, all of them, had lived. Your body having enough experience to manage everything, in the extent it knows from genetics. And then on top of that the individual adapting capability that eventually, over a long period would become genetic "experience" (I'd say, a result of being subjected to many conditions rising a need dictated by survival to be able to adapt to completely new conditions).
There's probably as well a fading factor to genetic "experience". But... I don't know for certain (about any of this really), just what passes as objective logic for me (at the moment).

[van]

How about the basic question,, how do you/we know that what our early ancestors ate was optimal for them?  Or did they eat  simply  what they could get their hands on? Yes, they probably didn't have excess sugars, or wheat, or processed dairy, so  they probably had strong bones, little problems with dental health or diabetes.... but how do any of us know how healthy they were or could have been eating different proportions of the either fat, protein or sugar, or any particular food stuffs at all.  I think there is Huge tendency to chase some Holy Grail in hopes of finding eternal youth.   And that's not to say we shouldn't seek a healthy body, but to base it on so much speculation seems a little religious to me.   
    And yes, I understand the concept of genetic adaptation over millions of years of evolution.... but then how is it that someone today from say Finland who's never had a durian, or rambutan etc... doesn't get sick and die.   Or how Orkos could import food from all over the world to distribute in Europe and proclaim it's the healthiest food on the planet?

[nummi]

Can't know what early ancestors ate, no way to find out (yet, probably never).
Food all over the planet is made of basically the same building blocks of life. So, even if the species has never eaten it before it could still be metabolized, as the building blocks are the same.

It would be religious if it was regarded as absolute truth. But right now don't know and can't know for certain, can only think of possibilities and probabilities - the closest we can get, until something concrete is discovered.
Eternal youth - immortality... It wouldn't be life as we know it. Although life/nature as a phenomenon seems to be driving toward immortality, as our minds have the potential to enable the avoidance of extinction, and we are part of life/nature.

And yes, I understand the concept of genetic adaptation over millions of years of evolution.... but then how is it that someone today from say Finland who's never had a durian, or rambutan etc... doesn't get sick and die

Perhaps it's simpler than adapting to specific foods... That instead over time adds information about new nutrients, toxins, etc., and how to react to them, into genes. (and if the info regarding a certain substance is not used for an extremely long period - millions of years - they are eventually discarded?). And as all life on Earth is made of the same stuff and those building blocks haven't really changed much, if at all, since life began, there's not much to adapt to other then new "inventions" of life/nature.

[Iguana]

And yes, I understand the concept of genetic adaptation over millions of years of evolution.... but then how is it that someone today from say Finland who's never had a durian, or rambutan etc... doesn't get sick and die.

They do get sick and die! We’ll all die one day.
See photo of Helsinki Meilahti Central Hospital below.

  Or how Orkos could import food from all over the world to distribute in Europe and proclaim it's the healthiest food on the planet?

Do they proclaim that? I even doubt they adhere to the groundless concept of “healthy food”. Anyway, most commercial organizations proclaim a lot of bullshit. What’s your point then?

[van]

my Point is that when anyone talks about genetic adaptation for millions of years, and as a reason not to drink milk because cows, goats, sheep, etc. have only been domesticated for such a relatively short time,, that that statement is like someone living in the North, like Finland who's generations have never come close to eating a pineapple, who have never had time to adapt genetically to eating a pineapple, and finding that they are not a problem for them.    And this relates to Orkos delivering foods from all over the planet, like a pineapple, etc. .   Now you may say again that our early ancestors were nomads and travelled great lengths during the seasons, eating seal meat in the summer, and pineapples in the winter months closer to the equator.  That's your choice.   I think not.  Before the nineteen hundreds you didn't find many eskimos hanging out around the equator during their winter holidays.     Hence,  we do adapt to food stuffs without millions of years of genetically adapting to them.  And this could very well include those peoples who historically have done amazing well with milk products,, especially fermented ones, and cheese.