11 Things You Didn't Know You Could Eat

When the apocalypse comes, you're going to need to be able to live off the land. And sometimes, the land will be... kind of weird. You already know you can eat bugs and spiders. But what else can you eat? Here are 11 things you probably didn't realize were edible.

Top image: Don Goofy.

1. Fish that you've poisoned. You can use mashed acorns or lime prepared from burned sea shells and coral to poison fish without rendering it inedible.

2. Tree bark. Many trees have a nutritious bark underlayer that can be scraped off and eaten. Here's a recipe.

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3. Armadillos. Forager Green Deane describes these critters as "possum on the half shell."

Image by Dawn Ashley.

4. Chalk. Edible, and a good source of calcium.

Image by John Morgan.

5. Cigarettes. Not necessarily a good source of nutrition, but cigarettes have natural antiseptic and anti-parasitic properties.

Image by Sludge G.

6. Dirt, Clay, and Diatomaceous earth. Sources of minerals and iron.

Image by Cyron Ray Macey

7. Chemical peels. Alpha hydroxy acid, a main ingredient in chemical peels and skin creams, is derived from citrus fruits, sour milk, sugar cane, and other food sources.

8. Rotting meat. It seems gross, but this guy uses it his only source of essential digestive enzymes.

9. Leather. As long as the tanning chemicals are not toxic, and after cooking for a long, long, long time.

Image by Szabolcs

10. The stinkhorn mushroom (Phallus impudicus). It looks, well, impudicus, and it smells awful, but it and its spores, slime layer removed, are edible.

Photo: Derek Keats.

11. Marijuana. The raw plant won't not get you high, but it will get you much less high than the dried. It should also confer some of the medicinal benefits.

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DISCUSSION

BlippityBloppity

DOCTOR: Ma'm, I'm afraid I have to diagnose your husband with pica, a disorder that causes him to have an appetite for non-nutritive substances.

WIFE: But he was told by IO9 that dirt and chalk were edible!

DOCTOR: I was actually talking about his previous habit of regularly eating at Wendy's and Taco Bell.

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