Re: Weird foods

To make things more clear, the second sentence of the third paragraph should say:

After WW2 there was a 50 to 100 fold increase in motor neuron disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS, Lou Gehrig's disese) sometimes associated with parkinsonism (motor symptoms of parkinsons disease) and dementia, on the island of Guam.
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: jack syme
  To: glennmorton@entouch.net ; asa@calvin.edu
  Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2005 10:44 PM
  Subject: Re: Weird foods

  Speaking of cycad nuts.

  There are clearly toxins in these nuts. And they are known to cause damage to the nervous system.

  The interesting story is this. After WW2 there was a 50 to 100 fold increase in motor neuron disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS, Lou Gehrig's disese) sometimes associated with parkinsonism (motor symptoms of parkinsons disease) and dementia. The cycad nut, and the flower made from it was thought to be a culprit. But as mentioned below because of preparation techniques there was not enough of the suspected toxins found in the flour to cause this dramatic increase in the incidence of this disease.

  It turns out that the likely candidate for this sporadic disease, which has begun to drop back to normal rates, is probably from another 'weird food" and that is the consumption of fruit bats.

  After WW2, which provided Guamanians with many guns, the consumption of these bats went up dramatically. The native fruit bats eat cycad nuts, and can accumulate the suspected toxin in its tissues, with no harm to the bat, to levels that when consumed are likely to be toxic to the Guamanians that eat them. So it is probably the bat flesh, that is the cause of this environmental form of sporadic ALS.

  Since they have begun measuring the rates of this disease on Guam, the incidence of motor neuron disease in Guam is approaching typical rates. This dramatic drop is suspected to be due to the near extinction of the native frut bats. Bats have been imported from nearby islands to replenish the native bat population, but apparently these bats do not have the palate for cycad nuts that the native bats do.

  http://www.parkinson.org/site/pp.asp?c=9dJFJLPwB&b=99904
    ----- Original Message -----
    From: glennmorton@entouch.net
    To: asa@calvin.edu
    Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2005 6:11 PM
    Subject: Weird foods

    Last weekend at Guilin, China, I had an opportunity to drink something I had only heard rumors of. It is snake wine. To make this somewhat of a scientific issue, I am always curious how it is that various groups of people eat and drink what they do. The Australian aborigines eat Cycad nuts after a long process which no one could have come up with easily. Normally those things kill you. Here is a description:

     "Macrozamia is a species of cycad, a strange, palm or fern-
    like plant whose history goes back 200 million years. It
    produces unique, pinapple-like reproductive structures coalld
    'stroboli'. these are large and brightly coloured, but are also
    toxic to herds of livestock, causing what is described by
    stockmen in the outback as 'the zamia staggers'. Moreover, it
    has been discovered that cycads contain one of the most powerful
    cancer-causing substances in the world. 'There is no such thing
    as people who eat cycads and who are only just learning about
    how to prepare them.'
     "Removing the poison from cycad kernels was a lenghty,
    complicated procedure. Slightly different methods were used in
    different regions. One technique was to cut open the kernels and
    soak out the poison with water. Later, when the kernels were
    free of toxin, they were ground into a starchy, flour-like
    substance and baked into 'cycad bread'. Another approach was
    fermentation, in which the dissected kernels were placed in large
    containers or pits for several months. The material is safe to
    eat when the kernels have either frothed or grown mouldy." ~
    Josephine Flood, "The Archeology of the Dreamtime, (New Haven:
    Yale University Press, 1989), p. 211

    Well last week end, I ran into one of those foods which one wonders why go to the bother. On the river trip through Guilin, I was offered a chance to drink snake wine. At first I demurred, but a young man sitting next to me restored my courage by pulling out his wallet and paying 20 rmb for the privilege. I then opened mine and got my glass full of the amber fluid (which looked more like embalming fluid). I drank. You can see the vile jug at http://home.entouch.net/dmd/auth.htm at the bottom in the section on foods I have eaten

    I also got my chance 2 weeks ago to finally eat dog. It is a sweet meat and very good. (I now have lost the last few friends I had). One wonders why I enjoy pushing the limits of cuisine like this, but maybe that is what drives mankind to come up with such weird foods in the firstplace.
Received on Thu Jul 21 23:16:29 2005