Our first 'cooked' food was bark, not meat?!?!?

[Polyvore]

I just had a great epiphany today as I was reading about natural foods, wondering where good sources of vitamin E were. I was also listening to Daniel Vitalis talk about how domesticated foods don't exist in the wild, and that if you went into the forest as a 'domesticated vegan' you would basically starve to death! This got me thinking.... What would we eat in the natural forest? A survivalist said that inner bark is damn tasty when it is cooked over a fire, it is basically the tree version of bacon!

I read that pine needle teas are great vitamin C and that many barks are edible, so I looked into the nutrition and preparation of bark for food. Bark is meant to be really high in vitamin E.... and basically every other nutrient too (like kale but even better).... they are ketogenic so go well with a high seafood, whole-animal diet.... so this tells me bark is the 'factor X' in (mostly) raw paleo diets...

A paleolithic man, who has not yet discovered tool, or fire, who isn't eating fruits or nuts or vegetables because none of them exist like in the supermarket, wouldn't have have a damn chance of getting plant nutrition from raw inner-bark, it is chewy and horrible, but then how would he consume it? He would cook it? Damn...

Wait a second.... A paleolithic tribe would travel as nomads, following natural bush fires across the land (watching for the smoke in the sky). They would camp outside the range of the fire, hunting fish in the dark dawn and animals at dark dusk, but when they can see in the daylight they would jog from their camp to the burnt forest to tear the bark off the crispy trees when the fire had died down and then eat the warm toasted inner bark for their midday meal!

Think about it! Trees are everywhere, there is more volume of edible bark in the world by far, than there is volume of edible fruit or vegetable in the wild. That is a damn bounty of food for the paleolithic man, and a huge amount of fiber and nutrients to eat. There are figures in books, where the calculated amount of fiber in the paleolithic man's diet is up to 100g a day, and they eat fat and meat to get their calories, but the fiber has such a cleansing effect.

When I thought of this I got so damn excited my heart beat was thumping. I hope I have piqued interest in some of you with my theory, it all makes so much sense to me right now, but I hope you can give me some feedback.

[cherimoya_kid]

Good luck digesting wood, dude.

[eveheart]

I hope you can give me some feedback.

I'm not sure I'd call this an epiphany - it sounds more like a hypothesis to me. Your next step is to research the thing, spend your life gathering evidence, get your wife and children to visit paleolithic forest fire sites, examine fossilized human excrement, and voila! publish your results. Then post a link on this forum.

[Polyvore]

It was an epiphany for me (an epiphany is a feeling which you can't really say I didn't get.)

Well of course it is not a theory, and it is a hypothesis. I am definitely going to start eating bark to see how it goes with my raw meat diet, and if I get the money I will pay for some barks to be nutritionally analysed in the lab.

Cherimoya_kid? I don't think you understand, you do not eat wood chips, you eat the layer of bark between the outer bark and the wood. This layer is quite soft and rubbery raw, crispy and fragile cooked.
http://survivaltopics.com/edible-pine-bark/

[TylerDurden]

I doubt bark would have been a staple, ever. I've tried it myself as an experiment, ages ago.

[cherimoya_kid]

It was an epiphany for me (an epiphany is a feeling which you can't really say I didn't get.)

Well of course it is not a theory, and it is a hypothesis. I am definitely going to start eating bark to see how it goes with my raw meat diet, and if I get the money I will pay for some barks to be nutritionally analysed in the lab.

Cherimoya_kid? I don't think you understand, you do not eat wood chips, you eat the layer of bark between the outer bark and the wood. This layer is quite soft and rubbery raw, crispy and fragile cooked.
http://survivaltopics.com/edible-pine-bark/

It's still cellulose, dude. Those cell walls aren't just going to open up and release their nutrients to you.  Sure, cooking can release some of them, but cooking also damages the nutrients and causes health issues in the long run. 

[cherimoya_kid]

Tell you what, try eating this stuff as 50% of your diet for a couple of months, and let us know how you feel.  I'm curious.

[Polyvore]

Of course I will try and get back to you! If it doesn't work out, then, well it was just a theory :p
I am willing to try anything after switching from SAD to paleo to raw meat! Probably not 50% of diet, but maybe 15% bark, 15% fruit, and 70% seafood/game? Just guessing, I will need to build up to it, I won't be able to increase my fibre intake drastically without causing problems.

"Many Native American cultures included the inner bark of pines and other trees as an important staple of their diet. This use was so common in some areas that early explorers visiting North America recorded acres of trees stripped of bark for food by the locals.

The bark is relatively nutritious, packing about 500-600 calories to the pound, but it may be bitter tasting depending on the species and the tree’s growing conditions. Most inner bark contains a surprising amount of digestible starches, some sugar, vitamins, minerals, and the bark also has tons of fiber, so brace yourself for a good internal scrubbing."

500-600 calories per lb... that is surprising!

[cherimoya_kid]

I have to admit, I'm curious.  Keep us updated on how it makes you feel.

I would avoid frying it, if you can.  Maybe baking would be better?  In any case, use coconut oil if you've got to fry it, NEVER use olive oil for frying.  It is quickly denatured by heat, and becomes pretty toxic.  Coconut oil is much more stable at high temps.

[Polyvore]

Thanks for the tip, I will try a variety of cooking methods, perhaps I will try to closely replicate the heating process of a burned forest by baking it in foil in the oven like a potato.

[CitrusHigh]

Yeah that's where the name adirondak came from, mean's bark eaters, but was used as an insult supposedly.

I've eaten cambium before, but just a few bites.

I was reading a book recently I think on indians from the PNW, or maybe it was wild edibles, or maybe...well anyway,  it was on indian practices and showed how they would make noodles out of cambium. But the noodles had to be eaten the same day and were not cooked, because if left for any amount of time they would turn bitter and inedible, but they were otherwise very sweet and juicy!

[Muhammad.Sunshine]

Hello Polyvore,

Thank you for sharing your idea. I had an epiphany concerning prebiotic fiber, it may be an"X factor" under-emphasized in the Paleo paradigm. Soluble fiber has fantastic benefits, maybe tree bark is a good source.

The fiber ingestion of traditional people is likely overestimated, traditional people usually discard the fibrous parts of plants, such parts are composed of insoluble fiber, only gel-like soluble fiber is salubrious.

Keep up your inquisitive spirit buddy

[Polyvore]

I found out a lot of edible barks are high in soluble fiber Muhammad!
http://www.livestrong.com/article/510291-is-slippery-elm-a-soluble-fiber/

I will start by increasing my fibre content with psylllium husk.

[Spirit Bear]

I'm very interested in the idea of prebiotic fibre helping with SIBO and the like. Are there good potential sources that can be supplemented with as well as psyllium?

[Polyvore]

Well the only two I can find information on is pine and slippery elm, I don't think it is a very popular thing to experiment with so there is little information. I will start by finding out good barks for tea, and then try the inner bark of those tea barks. If I can get a few good barks then I might get them analysed in a food lab creating a kickstarter project to find funds.

[cherimoya_kid]

Well the only two I can find information on is pine and slippery elm, I don't think it is a very popular thing to experiment with so there is little information.

I imagine that's partly because it involves killing trees.

[eveheart]

I imagine that's partly because it involves killing trees.

I imagine that the bark or cambium can come from shoots of the tree, not from killing the tree.

[Wattlebird]

Tree bark has long been used by shamans and medicine (wo)men, though not exclusively for nutritional benefits.
Bark from several species of acacia here in Australia is used for its hallucinogenic effects.  Bark from other plants around the world also have similar effects.
Heating (cooking) the bark activates constituent properties.

[cherimoya_kid]

I imagine that the bark or cambium can come from shoots of the tree, not from killing the tree.

Yes, but it's hard to get very much from shoots.

[Polyvore]

If you cut bark from trees in a vertical line it does not kill the tree. If you cut the bark in horizontal rings around the trunk it does.

You can take a hand span wide strip up the trunk from each tree and you will get a lot of bark without killing anything.

[cherimoya_kid]

If you cut bark from trees in a vertical line it does not kill the tree. If you cut the bark in horizontal rings around the trunk it does.

You can take a hand span wide strip up the trunk from each tree and you will get a lot of bark without killing anything.

You're still exposing the tree to disease.

But I'm no tree-worshipper.  I'd be happy to kill all the non-edible trees around here in the forests and replace them with fruit trees.

[Polyvore]

I am thinking about buying fresh bark from a local pine cutting place, so I don't have to cut trees myself, I just use waste product from industry.

[Dorothy]

Polyvore - just a word on slippery elm from an herbalist point of view. Slipper elm is considered to be one of the most nutritional herbs on the planet and one of the most easily digestible due to its demulcent qualities. It  coats and soothes the digestive system. I knew one herbalist that told me that when her brother was dying of aids slippery elm was the only thing he could eat.

Slippery elm is also one of the ingredients in the herbal mixture known as essiac - a truly amazing cancer remedy. The slipper elm component cleanses the digestive tract, promotes digestion and adds nutrients that helps support the system.

I've added slippery elm to oatmeal for people with weak systems to great effect.

The inner bark of birch trees is considered also to be a cure for cancer. I read about it even in Cancer Ward by Solzhenitsyn. Also, think about the powerful healing qualities of xylitol which is nothing more than ground up bark!   

You might want to invest in a kitchen blowtorch as that would truly be added real flame.

Good luck with your experiments!

[Polyvore]

That is great Dorothy, thanks!

Do you have any studies or anything on the compounds found in slippery elm?

[Alive]

Hey Polyvore, you could use the inside of the wood you could let it go rotten and grow grubs and mushrooms in it