Famine food

A famine food or poverty food is any inexpensive or readily available food used to nourish people in times of hunger and starvation, whether caused by extreme poverty, such as during economic depression or war, or by natural disasters such as drought. Foods associated with famine need not be nutritionally deficient, or unsavory. People who eat famine food in large quantity over a long period of time may become averse to it over time. In times of relative affluence, these foods may become the targets of social stigma and rejection. The characterization of some foodstuffs as "famine" or "poverty" food can be social. For example, lobster and other crustaceans may be considered poverty food in some societies and luxury food in others depending on the time period and situation. A number of foodstuffs have been strongly associated with famine, war, or times of hardship throughout history: The breadnut or Maya nut was cultivated by the ancient Mayans but is largely rejected as a poverty food in modern Central America. In Polynesia, plants from the genus Xanthosoma, known locally as ʻape, were considered famine food and used only when the taro crop failed. Several species of edible algae, including dulse, channeled wrack and Irish moss (Chondrus crispus), were eaten by coastal peasants during the Great Famine in Ireland of 1846–1848. Further inland, famine foods included stinging nettle, wild mustard, sorrel and watercress. In the area of Skibbereen, people resorted to eating donkey meat, earning the nickname "Donkey Aters" (Eaters) for people in the area. Others ate dogs, cats, corncrakes, rotten pigs and even human flesh. The consumption of silverweed, sea anemones, wild carrot, sloes, pignut, common limpet, snails, dock leaves, sycamore seeds, laurel berries, holly berries, dandelion, juices of red clover and heather blossoms are also recorded. Many accounts of the Famine mention people dying with green stains around their mouths from eating grass or other green plants. Sego lily bulbs were eaten by the Mormon pioneers when their food crops failed.