I have been subscribing to Dave Wendell’s youtube channel Bushcraft On Fire for a couple of months now and have learned a lot of valuable information. Dave and his wife Tam have a natural ability to teach you in a simple straight forward way the various ways of wilderness survival. I especially like how Tam makes bread in a coffee can. It looks really good.

Brushcraft on fire lol

Great show Jack. These interviews of the last month have really added something to the podcast.

I did want to make one note on the wild edibles and getting adequate proteins. In the last couple years I’ve taken two nutrition courses as part of my continuing education and have a pretty good overall understanding of what it takes to keep a human thriving. Dave seemed to skip around a clear answer on the protein question and wanted to focus on vitamins and other nutrients missing from commercial agriculture. While there are valid points there, it’s also easy for people to become malnourished with grave health consequences as a result of not getting a complete amino acid profile.

There are 20 amino acids that are necessary to build the cells of the body and allow for healthy metabolism. The body can assemble 11 of those itself even if your food intake misses some of those 11. The other nine amino acids the human body is incapable to creating. Without them muscles break down, cells can’t divide and repair themselves and you will eventually die. Fortunately, all animal tissue contains a complete profile, including eggs and dairy. However, if you don’t have eggs and/or dairy, with the exception of soy beans, no single plant contains all nine missing amino acids.

The only way to make up for this lack of a perfect plant is to eat complimentary proteins. Cultures have been aware of this for centuries and thus, diets have developed around basic staples that provide a complete protein profile. The most common around the world is beans and rice. Both are incomplete proteins, but together, they provide all nine essential amino acids and the building blocks for all 20. So, with that in mind, before simply trusting that any plants you find in the forest will meet your needs, it’s vital to understand which plants are complimentary. As a rule, legumes and grains are complimentary, but this may not always be the case.

Just thought I thought I’d bring up and maybe generate some discussion or bring in some more expert opinions.

Thanks for the reply, Jack. I copied and posted a thread in the forum, too, as I\’d really like to get some folks who understand both nutrition and wild edibles. Wouldn\’t it be cool if we got the right folks to develop a list of complementary protein foods so we could develop a diet for the 21st century (after the crash)?!?

I\’m a big carnivore, too, so I’ve got it easy. That said, when he was bringing up how some days you just can\’t find anything crawling throught the forest, but you don\’t need to sneak up on a dandilion it also rang true. If refrigeration isn\’t an option and salt gets in short supply, getting a regular source of protein could get pretty tricky. While acorns may have a lot of essential amino acids, if they\’re missing 2 amino acids and you don\’t know what plants you need for those two amino acids, you\’re still going to get sick and possibly die of the long run.

Long live good meat. I just put 26 pounds of venison in the freezer last weekend (honest, she looked a lot larger through the scope), so I\’m in good shape until spring. While I have enough beans and rice to last a year in my storage room, that\’s no way to live if I can help it!

Great interview! You and Dave touched on so many great ideas on bushcrafting and rightful ways of living! I was very impressed with this interview and love the fact that David is also a spiritual man!I will follow his bushcraft teaching more closely now!
Thanks again,
Foxrun