Can you eat grass?

[xelasnave]

I hear from prepers that food will disappear so stock up now.

It seems like a waste of time devoting a lot of time and energy to a future constructed on fear...however I like to be prepared so I ask..can one eat grass? I imagine it could be cooked and thus we only need one stomach to handle it...Actually I don't know why I asked there is heaps of grass outside and plenty of gas for the stove I will just cook some but does anyone have a recipe they could suggest?

I said to my preper friend if things get bad humans are easy to catch and a good sourse of protein, as are rats and maggots but somehow he does not see his colapse as that serious as it probably would have to be for me to justify preparation...so could grass be the answer?
If there is one message to take from evolution and survival of the fittest it is not to be fussy about what you eat..
Alex

[floyd_2 (Dean)]

I would like to suggest that a grass salad might be a good summer accompaniment to a nice roast grass main. Your friend may be onto something btw. Plastics are on the outer, and at least for packaging that means natural alternatives which are already selling like hotcakes. However, what that means is that land previously used for growing food so that we don't have to eat grass is being converted to grow sugarcane etc as the source for the new world of natural packaging. We're going to have plenty of paper bags and bagasse takeaway containers, but only roast grass with a side salad of grass to put inside them Your friend's new world will have people guarding their front lawns without mercy to protect their next dinner, and our green sulo bins will probably be replaced with cool rooms

[JA]

Originally Posted by xelasnave

I said to my preper friend if things get bad humans are easy to catch and a good sourse of protein, as are rats and maggots but somehow he does not see his colapse as that serious as it probably would have to be for me to justify preparation...so could grass be the answer?
If there is one message to take from evolution and survival of the fittest it is not to be fussy about what you eat..
Alex

I don't know about grass, but leaves from the Dandelion plant often found interspersed amongst the grass are fine in a Mediterranean type salad, provided there's no toxic chemicals about. They are somewhat bitter. Dress using a little olive oil, white wine vinegar, salt and pepper.

You could also potentially use them (Dandelion in lieu of Endive, Chicory or Spinach) in Horta, a Greek recipe for cooked bitter greens, with olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper, which when seasoned / done right is very tasty with a good toasted sourdough or do it in an Italian style cooked in the pan with oil and garlic, salt pepper. (Don't burn the garlic)

Best
JA

[blindman]

Klaus Schwab can explain what you might be eating. Good luck.

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by blindman

Klaus Schwab can explain what you might be eating. Good luck.

So you know my green grocer Klaus...certainly I will ask him.

Alex

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

From Wilderness Survival School…
Survival Foods: The Grass Family
More than 400 types of grasses can be eaten worldwide. Grasses are known for being edible and healthy eating because of their proteins and chlorophyll. Magnesium, phosphorus, iron, calcium, potassium, and zinc are commonly found in grasses. Grasses show up in your every-day foods, too. Cereal grains are in the grass family, including wheat, rice, wild rice, corn, oats, barley, millet, and rye. The seeds are usually the most beneficial part of the grasses and nearly all grasses are edible. However, in a survival situation, just because grasses are edible doesn’t mean it is worth the caloric output it would take to harvest many small seeds. Harvesting grasses can be done by hand, collecting them in a container for later use. Sprouted grass seeds can be a good food source as well.

Edible grasses include Bent, Wheat, Slough, Brome, Crab, Switch, Canary, Timothy, Blue, and Bristle grasses. You can make grasses into a juice by grinding them up, but don’t swallow the fiber. Chewing immature seed heads can be beneficial as well.

[xelasnave]

I can detect a reluctantancy to consider this matter within the confines of my question ...now if I could walk..maybe tomorrow I will go out and select some grass that looks tasty...I am thinking steamed would be best at least that method may preserve the nutritional content whereas boiling it may not..

I have yet to Google and you can bet it's been done and is being done if not I have stumbled on an original idea..I think that to be impossible.

Anyways I have a nice roast defrosting and have some convenient frozen veggies also thawing so I won't go hungry.

It is rather clear so I need to get my legs working to get to the mower which can take me to the observatory in which I had the good sense to leave a wheelchair for these difficult moments in locomotion... life is good

Alex

[RB (Andrew)]

Some of the best aromatics come from Grasse.

[gaseous (Patrick)]

Was gonna say you can smoke it, but that just exacerbates the hunger issue.

[bojan]

Dandelion salad (dressed with oil and vinegar) is delicious.
It was very often on my mother's menu.

[Huey (Michael)]

I am surprised nobody seems to have mentioned the most commonly used grass that can grow up to 300mm in a day under the right conditions and can be used for many other things apart from eating. Bamboo shoots, delicious and found in many stir fries and Asian dishes. Having been to Asia on a number of occasions I am always surprised how useful bamboo is. Fast growing, edible, able to be turned into furniture, chop sticks and other utensils, what else do you want?

My two cents worth,

Huey

[bojan]

Originally Posted by Huey

..Bamboo shoots, delicious and found in many stir fries and Asian dishes...

Yes of course!
BTW, I was thinking of planting bamboo in my backyard, but I am not sure if it's possible to control it...

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

https://youtu.be/xyePMeGE3CI
Awesome facts on dandelions - so much lost knowledge on their uses.

[RyanJones]

Moo

[Gary47 (Gary)]

Before you go lunching on a grass salad I would suggest a little research into diseases that can be transmitted from livestock to humans via larvae, eggs etc on grass. Things like intestinal worms, liver fluke etc. Best avoided.

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by Gary47

Before you go lunching on a grass salad I would suggest a little research into diseases that can be transmitted from livestock to humans via larvae, eggs etc on grass. Things like intestinal worms, liver fluke etc. Best avoided.

Thanks now I have gone off my lunch.

Alex

[alpal]

Grass is mostly made from cellulose which humans can't digest.
However I suspect that a tea made from grass would
contain many nutrients that would be good for us.

[ChrisD (Chris)]

Alex, this is an intriguing question.

Personally I consider grass to be the food of MY food.

As alpal said, grass is mostly cellulose which we can't digest. Cellulose needs temperatures over 315°C to break down so boiling in water will only give you wet grass, releasing little nutritional value.

The other problem would be nutritional value. Can you survive by eating only grass? Well alfalfa will give you 23-25 calories per 100 grams. So on an average day you're going to need to eat around 10kg of alfalfa to survive.

I wouldn't want to push that much material through my gut every day.

Chris

[xelasnave]

Thanks everyone for considering the proposition.
I won't bother trying to cook some.
Alex

[Pepper (Steve)]

Alex, For what it’s worth, one day when I was about 6 years old I pondered the same question.
So I chose a nice green patch of lawn, bent down like a cow-person and munched it straight out of the ground. Not sure why I choose the whole eating-like-an-animal experience but I’m sure it would’ve tasted the same either way.
Came to the conclusion normal food is ok and haven’t eaten grass since.
YMMV however.