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Bitterness is a taste most of us try to avoid. Expressions such as “bitter enemies” and “a bitter pill to swallow ” show how averse we are to this flavor. We greatly prefer the other three primary flavors – nearly everything Americans eat is a combination of sweet, salty, and sour. These are sometimes accented with spiciness or “piquancy” and the rich quality known as umami. (Umami is a harder taste experience to describe, but it’s often translated as a “savory” or mushroomy quality, and it is the specific enhancement imparted by MSG.)
Perhaps we dislike bitterness in part because it’s the flavor our taste buds are most sensitive to. Compared to our perception of saltiness, sweetness, and sourness, we can pick up an infinitesimal degree of bitterness in food or drink. This is probably a useful adaptation, since many poisons are bitter. But many medicines are also bitter, and there are certain medicinal qualities that many bitter substances have in common. I believe that consuming moderate amounts of bitter foods is a healthy thing. It also provides a vital balance to our relative overconsumption of the other flavors.
In the ancient healing systems of China and India the therapeutic properties of foods and herbs are thought to derive largely from the flavors they possess. The flavors themselves are considered to be energetic characteristics that affect the body far beyond our perception of them at the tongue. Textbooks of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Ayurveda will often state that a certain herb has a certain therapeutic action because it has a certain flavor and an affinity for a certain part of the body.
Sweetness, for instance, is seen in TCM as having a nourishing and consolidating effect on our energy. This is why so many comfort foods are sweet, and most naturally sweet foods (like rice and bananas) tend to be easy on the digestion. But by the same token, too much consolidation can have a clogging effect. This makes us pack on the pounds – especially around our bellies – when we eat too much sugar, and it also makes us feel ill the day after Halloween.
Spiciness or pungency, by comparison, has an opening or expansive energy. It promotes movement, gets our blood flowing, warms us up. And it may even open our pores and sinuses – causing us to sweat and feel clearer in the head. Sourness has a moistening and astringent effect. This is why sour drinks often seem even more thirst quenching than water alone.
Bitterness has a descending or draining energy. Bitter herbs often help drain and clear excesses from our system. Many bitter herbs are detoxifying, and they often promote urination or bowel movement. Bitter herbs frequently act on the liver and gallbladder to promote bile production and secretion. Bile is essential for the digestion of fats, including the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. Bile also stimulates the bowels and kills some bacteria that may be present in our food. These effects are especially useful after overconsumption of rich foods.
The stomach is understood in Chinese medicine as having a downward directionality. That is, it receives food from the esophagus above, and, after working on it with its gastric juices, should send it down to the intestines. When the stomach isn’t functioning properly, because of illness, overeating, stress, food sensitivity, or eating too fast, the stomach’s contents may fail to descend, or may even go upward instead. When it goes up, it’s called “stomach Qi [energy] counter-flow” or “stomach Qi rebellion.” Examples are acid reflux (heartburn), belching, nausea and vomiting, bloating, hiccups, dizziness, and just plain feeling yucky in the middle and upper body. Because of their descending and draining qualities and their action on bile production/secretion, bitter foods and herbs are often very helpful for these conditions.
There is just a small handful of bitter things an American is likely to encounter. Two of the most common are beer (in which the bitterness comes from hops flowers, which are used to offset the otherwise overly sweet taste of grain malt) and coffee (which we usually de-bitter by adding milk and/or sugar). Unfortunately, these are not the healthiest of bitter medicines, though I do believe they can have some benefits. Nearly all leafy greens have some degree of bitterness, especially arugula, endive (escarole), chicory, and young dandelion greens. These are excellent, though fairly mild, bitter medicines. Coffee (usually as espresso) and salad are often consumed after meals in Europe to stimulate digestion.
Stronger bitter herbs are usually encountered only in preparations made specifically to highlight their bitterness. These are used in alcoholic beverages and as after-meal digestifs. Gentian root is the classic bitter herb. It is used to produce Angostura bitters, originally prescribed for sea sickness and stomach problems, and now an ingredient in several mixed drinks. Herbalists of the European and American naturopathic traditions consider gentian and other bitter herbs to have the ability not just to stimulate gastric activity, but to improve the tone and function of the digestive system.
Rudolf Weiss, a famous German doctor and pioneer in herbal medicine, said of gentian, “A pure bitter (the bitter taste is detectable even at a dilution of 1 part in 20,000). Stimulates gastric secretions and motility and improves tone. It is active as soon as it is absorbed through the mouth’s mucus membranes.” The old school American herbalist, John Christopher, said gentian is “one of the most valuable bitter tonics and best strengtheners of the human system.” He called its effect “invigorating.” When used to invigorate the digestive system (as opposed to promoting digestion after a big meal), a squirt of gentian tincture is typically taken in water 20 to 60 minutes before eating.
Quinine, which comes from cinchona bark (a South American tree), is famous as the first effective treatment for malaria. It’s intensely bitter and it shares some medicinal properties with gentian and other bitters. The bitterness of quinine is the standard to which all other bitter substances are compared.
Quinine is most often encountered in tonic water, which goes very well with a wedge of lime and some good gin. Cinchona (AKA Peruvian bark) has attracted some attention recently because it’s the distant source of the contentious COVID treatment hydroxychloroquine. However, this herb and its derivatives all possess a certain degree of toxicity. The amount of quinine in tonic water is strictly regulated for this reason, and there have been a few unfortunate deaths from over-zealous users of the related substance chloroquine.
Citrus peel is a wonderful bitter agent. It can be used fresh, extracted in alcohol, or dried and aged and taken as a powder or tea. Fruity and floral tones make it more interesting and less of a pure bitter than gentian or quinine. Any citrus peel can be used. Common fruits used for bitters include lemon, lime, orange, tangerine, bitter orange, and grapefruit. A delicious example is the famous Italian limoncello, a liqueur made from Sorrento lemon peel (or whole lemons).
Other common bitters include barberry root bark, goldenseal root, rhubarb root, artichoke leaf, cascarilla bark, wormwood leaf, yarrow flowers, and more. Over 20 years ago, when I was a novice herbalist, I had a friend who had gradually developed nausea, bloating, and a poor appetite. Most foods made her feel worse. At the time, I was focused on barberry and suggested that she might try some. I didn’t speak to her for a while after that, but a few months later she reported, “I love barberry! It fixed me!” She had been taking it as a tea twice a day and not only were her digestive symptoms gone, she also felt strong and vital in way she hadn’t experienced since childhood.
A wide range of aromatic herbs may be combined with bitters to enhance their effect when used to soothe the digestive tract. Mint, anise, caraway, cardamom, cinnamon, coriander, fennel, ginger, and thyme are some common ones. These bitters and aromatics are available in a vast array of commercial preparations, most of which originate in Europe. However, there has been a resurgence of interest in bitters in the United States, with boutique manufacturers popping up alongside thriving foodie cultures.
Consider broadening your taste horizons, or at least offsetting your sweet, sour, and salty consumption with a bit of bitter. See if you feel lighter than usual after dinner if you have something bitter. Even if your taste buds don’t love it, your body might.
Share with us about your experience with bitter foods and herbs in the comments section.
Be well,
Peter
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In the past month's series on nutrition, I explained how the manner in which we eat can affect us as much as our food choices can. We looked at the vital roles that cooking and chewing play in digestion, and the importance of eating slowly and not too much. And I described the digestive tract from the mouth to the stomach. I think it’s important that everyone understands at least the basics of how their organs work, so let's look at the rest of the digestive tract this time.
Although we may have teeth and reality TV, we’re more like worms than we like to think. We’re all just a bunch of cylinders, with a tube of the outside world running through us. Worms put dirt in theirs, we put marshmallows in ours.
After the mouth, esophagus, and stomach, food enters the small intestine, which is about 23 feet long. It's where most nutrient absorption takes place, and all the value of good nutrition hinges on good absorption. At the beginning of the small intestine, a bunch of gastric juice is injected from the pancreas and gallbladder, which neutralizes the acidic food coming from the stomach, and makes the nutrients more absorbable. The pancreas produces a blend of digestive enzymes that break down the different components of food - fat, carbohydrates, and protein. The gallbladder squirts out bile (which is produced in the liver) to make fats absorbable.
The lining of the small intestine is composed of many folds, covered with tiny hair-like protrusions called villi (which are further covered with tinier hairs called microvilli). These greatly increase the surface area of the small intestine to maximize nutrient absorption. Some inflammatory conditions, such as celiac disease (gluten intolerance) and bacterial overgrowth of the small intestine (SIBO) can damage this membrane, leading to malnutrition.
The small intestine is followed by the much shorter but wider large intestine (most of which is called the colon). Food spends a very long time in the large intestine, where water and some remaining nutrients are absorbed, and stool is compacted and waits to be liberated. Finally, the stuff we can’t digest, along with waste products from throughout the body, leaves the rectum as stool. About 60 percent of its dry weight is bacteria.
Where does it come from? Riding along with us in our intestines are about 100 trillion microorganism passengers. There are about 500 different kinds, most of which are bacteria. They’re known as our “gut flora,” and they do all sorts of useful things for us, such as helping us digest things, protecting us from harmful microbes, synthesizing some vitamins, stimulating growth of intestinal cells, and assisting the immune system. We acquire these microscopic pals by eating food that’s contaminated with them or deliberately cultured with them (like yogurt and sauerkraut), and by taking them in supplements known as probiotics.
So, as we’ve seen, our environment (what we select from it based on taste) literally passes through us. We make the outside world into ourselves. It’s a practice worth taking seriously. Besides the healthy eating practices I discussed previously, some of the main factors in good absorption are having enough gastric juice, having healthy gastric membranes, having a strong and healthy population of gut flora, and having a relaxed nervous system.
Cultivating a relaxed nervous system has many additional benefits, so spend time in nature, eat in a calm environment, get massages, meditate, do whatever works for you to become peaceful. As for gastric juice, insufficient enzyme secretion is pretty common. Consider a good digestive enzyme complex, taken at the beginning of a meal. I’ve had at least a hundred patients who have overcome longstanding digestive problems just by supplementing for a while with digestive enzymes. Some people who have trouble digesting fat do well to take a product that also contains ox bile. Finally, promote healthy gut flora by eating live, fermented/cultured foods on a regular basis, and occasionally taking a course of probiotics (especially after using antibiotics).
If you’re interested in learning more about the big picture of eating and nutrition, check out the four week course I developed for The Dragontree, called How to Eat.
Be well,
Dr. Peter Borten
[post_title] => Basic Vehicle Maintenance, Part Three: Know Your Insides
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Here's a favorite from the Best of The Dragontree archives! We'd love your input about what works for your skin in the comments below!
When you think about people, chances are you think about skin. Most of what we see that isn’t covered up by clothing is skin, after all. Humans are skin bags. Sorry, did that make you feel kind of gross? Anyway, like it or not, the quality of our skin can have a big influence on how others perceive us. It’s why we get so distressed by things like acne, wrinkles, birthmarks, warts, and scars, even though they don’t actually compromise our function or health.
When people come to me for help with a cosmetic skin issue, they often act a bit sheepish about it, as if they believe I’ll consider them shallow for caring about their appearance. But I recognize how much our feelings about our appearance affect our happiness and the way we relate to others. I think that as long as we’re not obsessive about it, we should do whatever we need to do to feel pretty or handsome.
Skin health is an expression of overall health. This doesn’t mean you won’t get wrinkles if you’re healthy, but even a wrinkly face can look vibrant if it’s part of a vibrant body and spirit. Last month I discussed some basics of vehicle maintenance – i.e., taking care of your body – with regard to nutrition and digestion. Now I’m going to cover basic mechanics and maintenance of your skin.
There are a number of factors that affect skin quality, including genetics, climate (wind, dryness, sun, chlorine, smoke, pollution, etc.), and our internal environment, to name just a few. We have more control over certain factors than others. Obviously, your skin will need different things in a dry, windy place than in a hot, damp place. But regardless of your particulars, there are two main things worth focusing on for healthy skin: good nutrition and good detoxification.
This week I’ll focus on detoxification. Most naturopathic physicians see dull skin and chronic skin problems as an expression of internal toxicity, which often results from digestive imbalance and/or a sluggish liver, plus a history of exposure to chemicals and/or problematic foods. When we cleanse the liver and gut (and support the lungs and kidneys while we’re at it) skin problems frequently clear up. Even without rashes or other obvious problems, our skin tends to be flat, dry, or irritated when our detoxification mechanisms aren’t at their best.
Here are five basic starting points for supporting internal and external detoxification:
- Drink plenty of water. The body functions better when well hydrated, and this includes our detoxification mechanisms. I recommend drinking half the number of pounds you weigh as ounces of water per day (thus, a 100 pound person would drink 50 ounces of water). And this should be consumed evenly over the course of the say, and should not be ice cold.
- Make sure your bowels are moving regularly. Constipated people are retaining toxins in the colon for longer than is healthy. If you’re not having at least one big, complete feeling bowel movement a day, here are some measures you can take. Try drinking a glass of hot water first thing in the morning. Adding some honey may help. Consider prune juice if necessary. As I mentioned above, be sure to get enough water throughout the day. Eat plenty of good fats for lubrication (olive oil, walnuts, chia seed, flax seed, oily fish, coconut and coconut oil, avocado, etc.) and plenty of fiber to scrub your colon. Get exercise that engages your abdominal muscles. Stop tensing your abdomen throughout the day if this is a habit of yours. If you need more help, get some powdered magnesium (such as Natural Calm) and gradually increase the dose until your bowels start moving more freely.
- Practice dry skin brushing. Get a natural fiber skin brush and brush over all of your skin, always working toward the heart. Start at your toes, brushing firmly up your feet and legs, going over the same area a few times, and gradually coming up the legs to the torso. Work from the fingers to the torso next. Then cover the torso itself. Be gentle over delicate areas, and don’t brush so hard that it hurts. When done, jump in the shower, finish with cool water, and then give yourself a quick massage with a high quality oil, like jojoba, coconut, or sesame.
- Sweat. You can induce sweating through exercise (a great option) or through heat (sauna). Take a cool shower afterwards. Sweat carries toxins, including heavy metals, out of our bodies. Spending a long time in a medium hot sauna, just to the point of glistening skin, is more sustainable than going into a very hot sauna and dripping sweat.
- As a basic cleanse, consider abstaining from all grains, meat, dairy products, nightshade family vegetables (tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, peppers), and anything processed. The bulk of your diet should be vegetables, including some raw greens (bitter ones are good), and basic homemade soups. Some fruit is ok, but veggies are best. If you need something starchy, bake a sweet potato in foil at 400 degrees for 90 minutes. Try it for one to seven days. You’ll feel great, and your skin will become more clear. On an ongoing basis, try a low dose liver cleansing formula such as silymarin (milk thistle), artichoke, and turmeric (you can get this as a premade formula called S.A.T. made by Thorne), or just take plain milk thistle or dandelion.
Give these strategies a try and report in the comments section on your results. Stay tuned for more on nutrition for healthy skin next week.
Be well,
Dr. Peter Borten
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Bitterness is a taste most of us try to avoid. Expressions such as “bitter enemies” and “a bitter pill to swallow ” show how averse we are to this flavor. We greatly prefer the other three primary flavors – nearly everything Americans eat is a combination of sweet, salty, and sour. These are sometimes accented with spiciness or “piquancy” and the rich quality known as umami. (Umami is a harder taste experience to describe, but it’s often translated as a “savory” or mushroomy quality, and it is the specific enhancement imparted by MSG.)
Perhaps we dislike bitterness in part because it’s the flavor our taste buds are most sensitive to. Compared to our perception of saltiness, sweetness, and sourness, we can pick up an infinitesimal degree of bitterness in food or drink. This is probably a useful adaptation, since many poisons are bitter. But many medicines are also bitter, and there are certain medicinal qualities that many bitter substances have in common. I believe that consuming moderate amounts of bitter foods is a healthy thing. It also provides a vital balance to our relative overconsumption of the other flavors.
In the ancient healing systems of China and India the therapeutic properties of foods and herbs are thought to derive largely from the flavors they possess. The flavors themselves are considered to be energetic characteristics that affect the body far beyond our perception of them at the tongue. Textbooks of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Ayurveda will often state that a certain herb has a certain therapeutic action because it has a certain flavor and an affinity for a certain part of the body.
Sweetness, for instance, is seen in TCM as having a nourishing and consolidating effect on our energy. This is why so many comfort foods are sweet, and most naturally sweet foods (like rice and bananas) tend to be easy on the digestion. But by the same token, too much consolidation can have a clogging effect. This makes us pack on the pounds – especially around our bellies – when we eat too much sugar, and it also makes us feel ill the day after Halloween.
Spiciness or pungency, by comparison, has an opening or expansive energy. It promotes movement, gets our blood flowing, warms us up. And it may even open our pores and sinuses – causing us to sweat and feel clearer in the head. Sourness has a moistening and astringent effect. This is why sour drinks often seem even more thirst quenching than water alone.
Bitterness has a descending or draining energy. Bitter herbs often help drain and clear excesses from our system. Many bitter herbs are detoxifying, and they often promote urination or bowel movement. Bitter herbs frequently act on the liver and gallbladder to promote bile production and secretion. Bile is essential for the digestion of fats, including the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. Bile also stimulates the bowels and kills some bacteria that may be present in our food. These effects are especially useful after overconsumption of rich foods.
The stomach is understood in Chinese medicine as having a downward directionality. That is, it receives food from the esophagus above, and, after working on it with its gastric juices, should send it down to the intestines. When the stomach isn’t functioning properly, because of illness, overeating, stress, food sensitivity, or eating too fast, the stomach’s contents may fail to descend, or may even go upward instead. When it goes up, it’s called “stomach Qi [energy] counter-flow” or “stomach Qi rebellion.” Examples are acid reflux (heartburn), belching, nausea and vomiting, bloating, hiccups, dizziness, and just plain feeling yucky in the middle and upper body. Because of their descending and draining qualities and their action on bile production/secretion, bitter foods and herbs are often very helpful for these conditions.
There is just a small handful of bitter things an American is likely to encounter. Two of the most common are beer (in which the bitterness comes from hops flowers, which are used to offset the otherwise overly sweet taste of grain malt) and coffee (which we usually de-bitter by adding milk and/or sugar). Unfortunately, these are not the healthiest of bitter medicines, though I do believe they can have some benefits. Nearly all leafy greens have some degree of bitterness, especially arugula, endive (escarole), chicory, and young dandelion greens. These are excellent, though fairly mild, bitter medicines. Coffee (usually as espresso) and salad are often consumed after meals in Europe to stimulate digestion.
Stronger bitter herbs are usually encountered only in preparations made specifically to highlight their bitterness. These are used in alcoholic beverages and as after-meal digestifs. Gentian root is the classic bitter herb. It is used to produce Angostura bitters, originally prescribed for sea sickness and stomach problems, and now an ingredient in several mixed drinks. Herbalists of the European and American naturopathic traditions consider gentian and other bitter herbs to have the ability not just to stimulate gastric activity, but to improve the tone and function of the digestive system.
Rudolf Weiss, a famous German doctor and pioneer in herbal medicine, said of gentian, “A pure bitter (the bitter taste is detectable even at a dilution of 1 part in 20,000). Stimulates gastric secretions and motility and improves tone. It is active as soon as it is absorbed through the mouth’s mucus membranes.” The old school American herbalist, John Christopher, said gentian is “one of the most valuable bitter tonics and best strengtheners of the human system.” He called its effect “invigorating.” When used to invigorate the digestive system (as opposed to promoting digestion after a big meal), a squirt of gentian tincture is typically taken in water 20 to 60 minutes before eating.
Quinine, which comes from cinchona bark (a South American tree), is famous as the first effective treatment for malaria. It’s intensely bitter and it shares some medicinal properties with gentian and other bitters. The bitterness of quinine is the standard to which all other bitter substances are compared.
Quinine is most often encountered in tonic water, which goes very well with a wedge of lime and some good gin. Cinchona (AKA Peruvian bark) has attracted some attention recently because it’s the distant source of the contentious COVID treatment hydroxychloroquine. However, this herb and its derivatives all possess a certain degree of toxicity. The amount of quinine in tonic water is strictly regulated for this reason, and there have been a few unfortunate deaths from over-zealous users of the related substance chloroquine.
Citrus peel is a wonderful bitter agent. It can be used fresh, extracted in alcohol, or dried and aged and taken as a powder or tea. Fruity and floral tones make it more interesting and less of a pure bitter than gentian or quinine. Any citrus peel can be used. Common fruits used for bitters include lemon, lime, orange, tangerine, bitter orange, and grapefruit. A delicious example is the famous Italian limoncello, a liqueur made from Sorrento lemon peel (or whole lemons).
Other common bitters include barberry root bark, goldenseal root, rhubarb root, artichoke leaf, cascarilla bark, wormwood leaf, yarrow flowers, and more. Over 20 years ago, when I was a novice herbalist, I had a friend who had gradually developed nausea, bloating, and a poor appetite. Most foods made her feel worse. At the time, I was focused on barberry and suggested that she might try some. I didn’t speak to her for a while after that, but a few months later she reported, “I love barberry! It fixed me!” She had been taking it as a tea twice a day and not only were her digestive symptoms gone, she also felt strong and vital in way she hadn’t experienced since childhood.
A wide range of aromatic herbs may be combined with bitters to enhance their effect when used to soothe the digestive tract. Mint, anise, caraway, cardamom, cinnamon, coriander, fennel, ginger, and thyme are some common ones. These bitters and aromatics are available in a vast array of commercial preparations, most of which originate in Europe. However, there has been a resurgence of interest in bitters in the United States, with boutique manufacturers popping up alongside thriving foodie cultures.
Consider broadening your taste horizons, or at least offsetting your sweet, sour, and salty consumption with a bit of bitter. See if you feel lighter than usual after dinner if you have something bitter. Even if your taste buds don’t love it, your body might.
Share with us about your experience with bitter foods and herbs in the comments section.
Be well,
Peter
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Thank you for this article – altho I thought there could have been a more substantive discussion of the pros/cons of being carnivore vs. herbivore. Until August 2017, I had been a carnivore and I had a philosophical “aha” moment for the reasons you mentioned above to change my diet. I chose, as a compromise, to be a pescatarian. There are pros and cons to that as well for some of the same reasons mentioned above. I did lose about 25 pounds (which didn’t go un-noticed from my friends and family and motivated some of them to follow suit), feel much better and my cholesterol numbers have significantly improved – to the point I’m no longer on Rx. But, my main motivation for remaining a pescatarian is for the philosophical reasons. I am a firm believer we eat too much meat and the dis-eases from which most Americans suffer can be linked to the amount of meat consumed.
Many years ago, while in cooking school, I made a deal with myself. My school was all about knowing where your food comes from (that ensures quality among other things). One of our tours was a slaughter house.
The deal I made was – if I couldn’t stand what I saw – I had no business buying or eating meat. As it happens, the part that disturbed me, wasn’t the killing (that was extremely fast an humane). It was the wholesale killing without a flinch from anyone involved and no thanks to the animal for providing sustenance for others.
I found myself going through the “plant” constantly whispering “Thank you, thank you, thank you…I won’t take this for granted”.
So, I continue to eat meat. However…I changed my buying habits. I only buy from ranches and farms that give the animal a good life, do not use antibiotics or hormones and take the animals lives in humane ways. I gave up on buying from companies who practice factory farming.
It’s more expensive, certainly. But that also ensures I buy less meat; healthier meat and locally sourced meat. We’re one of the few countries with a friendly growing climate, that choose to make meat a main dish and other foods side dishes. A substantial part of the world practices just the opposite.
Important to note that a completely plant based diet, requires land too (though not as much). In the case of soybean and palm oil farming, the global impact to habitat loss (certainly in the Amazon) is astronomical…as is palm oil farming.
I think it behooves us to see where *all* our food is coming from and make better choices across the board.
I am still on this journey of discovery of what works for me. I think at some point we’ll understand more about the interplay between genetics and diet. Who our ancestors were and what their diet probably played a role in what is good for us, but even they were not able to eat an ideal diet for their body. I don’t think a vegetarian or vegan diet would be the best for me, given my experience and ancestry but some read meat, some other types of animal and vegetable protein probably would be ideal. I am 3/4 Latinx with a fairly good concentration of Native American who relied on the three sisters: corn, beans and a starch to provide the complete protein that was for them, the staff of life. My Irish ancestors relied on fish and seaweed. (BTW: Potatoes were a much later addition by the English who thought they were helping to feed them to disastrous results).