I didn’t know if there’d be a definitive answer for this, so I’ll put it here.
We all know the adage about not being able to live by bread alone.
So what would be the smallest variety of foods necessary to survice. That is, you could eat only these foods for the rest of your life.
Water is a given.
While it’s probably not the ideal food from a culinary viewpoint, you might consider pet food if you are going to be forced to eat one thing the rest of your life. The fine folks at Purina and Iams pack in all the nutrients for Fluffy and Rover to survive, so presumedly you could make a go of it as well.
Pet food might work, but I don’t know if dogs and cats have the same requirements as humans.
I’ve heard that potatoes are close, if you eat the skins too and include an egg every week or so for the protein. You might need some greens for extra vitamins as well.
There was a story in the paper quite a few years ago about a guy who lived on beer for several years (that’s good English beer of course) with only a packet of crisps (potato chips) once in a while for variety. Unfortunately, he first came to the attention of the press when he collapsed and was diagnosed with severe malnutrition. I guess with all that beer he didn’t notice he was feeling sick.
Hm, how about:
potatoes in skins
bananas
milk
unfiltered beer
egg
oranges
spinach
potatoes and bananas for the potassium and assorted vitamines and minerals, oranges to stop from being so bland=) and for the vitamins
milk and egg for protein and fat, and the added d vitamins
unfiltered beer for the yeast [b complex vitamins]
spinach for the iron and fiber. OK, I also love spinach=)
and maybe a nice tuna for the omega oils?
I remember reading a National Geographic article about potatoes about 15 years ago, and IIRC, the article claimed that you could live without any deficiencies on only potatoes and whole milk, provided you ate the skins.
back to my idea…using the usda lookup, i got the following info=)
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/
potatoes, baked, flesh and skin, with salt NDB#11828 . 1 medium
bananas, raw . 1 medium
spinach, raw . 1 cup
orange, raw, navels . 1 fruit
egg, white, raw, fresh . 1 large
milk, whole . 1 cup
tuna, bluefin, raw . 3 oz [i like sashimi=)]
they don’t have a category for unfiltered beer=( so I dont know how to classify it=(
But, it looks fairly nutrition dense even without the beer…
Now, with our limited selection of ingredients, do we get to use salt and other spices or not?
In a Peg Bracken book, she lists the following:
One lb. wheat flour, two oz. lard, 1 1/2 cabbage leaves, one carrot.
She called it the “I’d Rather Be Dead Than Fed” diet.
Only if you need them to survive.
Salt, possibly, if the above foods don’t have enough.