With wars being more and more likely to happen, food shortages become more possible.
However, nature can provide some food, especially in forests.
Now, this isnt any complete guide, and you should make sure not to eat anything poisonous or harmful, obviously. Also, many things on this list carry certain risks, so be warned.
Here is the list of foods with high energy density found in nature:
1. Dandelion root
2. Tree bark
3. Dandelion flowers
4. Catkins, green catkins
5. Pollen from catkins
6. Grasshoppers
7. Algae
8. Pine tree needles
9. Pine tree nuts
10. Acorns, hazelnuts, walnuts, green nuts
11. Cattail
12. Tree sap, pine tree sap
13. Water extract, achieved by soaking soluble sugars, fiber and protein in water.
14. Blending dandelion greens and other edible weeds, thus making juice
15. Alcohol made from fermenting food which contains sugar
16. Mushrooms
17. Fruit
18. Berries
Now, this list doesnt include hunting animals, birds, searching for eggs, animal bones, or fishing, so it is suitable for vegans.
I have also excluded soil, lice and feces. While many animals eat soil, lice and feces, humans wouldnt find that good, probably.
Edible tree sap is a significant food, because its present for whole year in many forests. It contains water and sugar, so it is a good source of energy.
Tree bark from some trees is useful in small amounts. 30 grams of edible tree bark should be safe enough to eat. You dont want to eat too much tree bark because it can cause constipation.
Pollen is great food source, even tho it can be gathered only at certain times a year. It is gathered by gathering lots of catkins, drying them and shaking them in a bucket so they release pollen at the bottom of the bucket.
Grasshoppers are probably a more risky food source. Historically, people did eat grasshoppers. There are some grasshoppers which are poisonous, probably. So while they do contain lots of protein, they might not be the best choice.
Mushrooms are a significant source of food. The only problem is the identification. There are plenty of really poisonous ones looking way too similar to poisonous ones. So while they are a great food source, they are only a safe food source for mushroom experts.
Nuts are highest calorie food in forests. Pine tree nuts contain about 600 calories per 100 grams. Walnuts contain about 700 calories per 100 grams.
Dandelion root is another great food source, because dandelion root is the size of a carrot. Dandelions are very common and easy to find. They are softer in spring, and can be made even softer by cooking.
If you have blender, you can make great use of dandelion greens. They are very difficult to eat raw, as they are tough to chew. However, blending them into a juice makes them easy to consume.
Edible fruit and berries are great food source if you can find them.
Making alcohol from natural sugar and yeast is possible, just somewhat risky.
Water extract is a method where soluble sugars, fiber and protein, or even pollen are extracted from plants by soaking and crushing plants in water. This method is important because it produces water which has calories. Water is easier and faster to drink than it is to chew foods, so calories are absorbed faster. This method is risky, of course.
But this method would be improved but made even more risky by adding soil which contains bacteries which break down cellulose, to further increase sugar extracted to water. However, the reason I am not really recommending adding soil to improve extraction of sugar is because so many soils are made toxic by human activities.
The alternative to water extract method is cooking plants to make tea, and such tea would contain some calories due to soluble sugar in plants.
Catkins from some trees are edible and usually present even in winter. You just dont want to eat too many of them.
Dandelion flowers are easy to chew and are a good food source if you can find the ones not made toxic by human activities such as use of herbicides which makes even edible plants toxic for humans.
