# The most nutritious non-food **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 24, 2009, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-nutritious-non-food/522396 "2009-12-24T00:09:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ivn1188](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2009, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-nutritious-non-food/522396/21 "2009-12-24T23:02:46Z")
I don’t think we can count manufactured products either. Corn-based packing peanuts are corn, which we eat. Glucose drips are sugar, which we eat – I have a bottle of corn syrup in my pantry. Paste and paint and leather are all things people eat, just in other formats. If you count preparations of foods we already eat, then where do you draw the line? For example, if I make corn chips with some ingredient in them that usually doesn’t get included in corn chips, I might be the only person eating cherry-flavored corn chips, but that doesn’t mean no one eats cherries or corn. ---
**Author:** ![JFLuvly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac91a4/32.png) [@JFLuvly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JFLuvly)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-nutritious-non-food/522396/22 "2009-12-25T01:06:59Z")
I’ll be in the corner with my pointed hat on if anyone needs me. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-nutritious-non-food/522396/23 "2009-12-25T03:16:01Z")
If one of those “OMG collapse of civilization!” scenarios folks have been talking about so frequently here actually happened, I’d stock up on dry dog food. It keeps for a long time without refrigeration. If it’s intended to be a complete diet for dogs (not considering supplementing by treats and the occasional bit of “people food”), I can’t see why humans couldn’t live on it either. It wouldn’t be pleasant, but based on what I’ve seen here, I’m sure many on the SDMB would find a bowl of even low-end dog food like Ol’ Roy to be preferable to a meal at a chain restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-nutritious-non-food/522396/24 "2009-12-25T03:53:12Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > “[If you think eating insects is gross, you may be in the cultural minority. Throughout history, people have relished insects as food. Today, many cultures still do]([http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/If](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/If) you think eating insects is gross, you may be in the cultural minority. Throughout history, people have relished insects as food. Today, many cultures still do.).” What was that supposed to link to? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-nutritious-non-food/522396/25 "2009-12-25T04:13:50Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > You could probably get some nutrition from horse’s hooves. To quote the commercial, “There’s always room for [a brand name for flavored gelatinized horses’ hooves].” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![St.Anger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@St.Anger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Anger)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-nutritious-non-food/522396/26 "2009-12-25T08:36:51Z")
**The most nutritious non-food** McDonalds? 😃 . . . But seriously, ladies and germs . . . I remember many, many years ago reading about the siege on Leningrad by the Germans, and the city denizens ate some fucked up shit. After they emptied the city of dogs, cats, and rats, and in some cases, humans, they would eat stuff like paste and paper and even try and make dishes out of some of the stuff. I don’t remember exactly what the stuff was, maybe it was candle wax etc etc but they were so desperate they would just eat stuff to fill their stomachs to try and ease the pain of the hunger. Scary stuff. ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-nutritious-non-food/522396/27 "2009-12-25T08:47:29Z")
In 2007, I read that Haitians were trying to survive on clay. > **[Haiti's rising food prices drive poor to eat mud](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1577057/Haitis-rising-food-prices-drive-poor-to-eat-mud.html)** ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-nutritious-non-food/522396/28 "2009-12-25T10:34:40Z")
> [@JFLuvly](#): > > Insects > [@J\_Cubed](#): > > [ul] > [li]Eaten voluntarily by non-Westerners[/li][li]Eaten for money by Westerners[/li][li]Inadvertently eaten in other foods by everyone[/li][/ul] There’s a stall at Boqueria Market in Barcelona which specializes in “bugs,” mainly insects, arachnids and worms. So that’s Westerners paying voluntarily to eat insects. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-nutritious-non-food/522396/29 "2009-12-25T11:45:12Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > What was that supposed to link to? Sorry, try this > **[National Geographic](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/)** > > Explore National Geographic. A world leader in geography, cartography and exploration. The rich text editor doesn’t work well if you try to change text after you set up the link… ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2009, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-nutritious-non-food/522396/30 "2009-12-27T02:34:13Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > snip > [li]Kelp and other seaweeds[/li] > **[Healthy Caribbean Sea Moss - Caribbean Culture](http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art60843.asp)** > > Caribbean sea moss is a highly desirable sea nutrient known for aiding symptoms of fibromyalgia, anxiety, depression, insomnia and even fertility problems. - Healthy Caribbean Sea Moss - Caribbean Culture at BellaOnline We cultivate Seamoss or Irish moss round these parts! ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2009, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-nutritious-non-food/522396/31 "2009-12-27T04:03:35Z")
Honestly, _Ulmus rubra_,[Slippery Elm](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulmus_rubra), inner bark, is a great survival food. [Here’s](http://health.howstuffworks.com/slippery-elm-herbal-remedies.htm) another link, with a bit of info,and a good plant ID illustration. Couldn’t find a really good website with any intricate description. Slippery elm is very unique among trees for having a very nutritious mucilaginous bark; when you chew it, it greatly expands in your mouth, very rich in polysaccharides, and has medicinal use in soothing human guts. I’ve participated in harvesting trees for use, and it’s labor intensive, and amazing, in the way the bark comes off the trees with a sliding knife, very, well, slippery, and rich, right from the start. The root bark is even more rich, tastes sweet like a marshmelllow, and, when you eat it, full right away. You never see that for sale though. It’s hard to harvest. If I were starving and wandering around the Eastern woods in a hard winter, Slippery Elm would be the first plant I’d look for to be able to survive. In looking around, also found this [nice bit on tree barks](http://www.ruralvermont.com/vermontweathervane/issues/winter/97012/eatpine.shtml) by good ol’ Euell Gibbons. ---
**Author:** ![kitemaker\_chuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a88e4f/32.png) [@kitemaker\_chuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitemaker_chuck)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2009, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-nutritious-non-food/522396/32 "2009-12-27T05:56:06Z")
I remember reading about (in the Guiness Books for example), people would eat light bulbs, razors and even a bicycle. I’m not sure if they’re very nutritious, but they’re certainly non-foods. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-nutritious-non-food/522396/33 "2009-12-27T16:10:53Z")
How about mat-forming bacteria - I expect some, many or most of these may not be edible for one reason or another, but are there any species that would be non-toxic and nutritiously digestible to humans? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2009, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-nutritious-non-food/522396/34 "2009-12-27T16:14:42Z")
BTW, Oak leaves (well, some species) are edible when they are young. I don’t expect they would be much more nutritious than any other green leafy vegetable (that is, possibly useful for vitamins, etc, but not terribly rich in energy) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-nutritious-non-food/522396/35 "2009-12-27T16:19:13Z")
Also, how about plankton? ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-nutritious-non-food/522396/36 "2009-12-28T05:59:09Z")
I was going to guess some sort of bacteria as Mangetout (who clearly doesn’t) suggested. Plankton is being marketed now as a nutrition supplement. I didn’t think many people would eat slime mold but apparently [they do](http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/june99.html). Not sure how nutritious it is. If instead of taking the question as ‘could you survive on X’ you looked at raw nutritional content I bet seawater is the most nutritious thing that isn’t eaten, though I suppose sea salt could be said to be a counterargument to that. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-nutritious-non-food/522396/37 "2009-12-28T06:43:34Z")
I’m not sure of the nutritional value, but apparently somebody has discovered that [hagfish](http://www.jyi.org/volumes/volume5/issue7/features/lee.html) slime may be used as a substitute for egg whites in cooking. I wonder if an ovo-vegetarian would eat the stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-nutritious-non-food/522396/38 "2009-12-28T14:55:27Z")
Poop anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-nutritious-non-food/522396/39 "2009-12-28T16:26:21Z")
> [@panamajack](#): > > I was going to guess some sort of bacteria as Mangetout (who clearly doesn’t) suggested. I just haven’t finished trying yet… > [@](#): > > Plankton is being marketed now as a nutrition supplement. Plankton is a bit of a diverse and broad category - i know there are algae-based food supplements, but there are other kinds of plankton that probably aren’t exploited much or at all. I’m planning to eat shrimp larvae next year (I netted huge numbers of larvae this year while I was fishing for brown shrimps ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-nutritious-non-food/522396/40 "2009-12-28T16:44:51Z")
Any elementary school teacher can tell you kids eat paste and Elmer’s glue. Cardboard is just paper, and that’s safe to eat. Spies and humiliated people have eaten their words with no apparent harm. How many times have you heard somebody say some food “tastes like cardboard”? Those people have clearly eaten cardboard. Many people, especially pregnant women, eat laundry starch and/or clay mud. Many pills use clay as a filler, so we eat it every day. Starch is a carbohydrate, and clay is mineral-rich. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-nutritious-non-food/522396.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-nutritious-non-food/522396.md?page=3)