"Adaption to ones environment is paramount". The necessity to find food for survival is also paramount and Urban settings can prove difficult terrains, the most easy to pick food is toxic at best yet with a little firm guidance and common sense even amateurs can grab a bite on their way through the vast jungle that society swings at us. My approach is somewhat different. Being a serious adventurer and recognising the need to blend in I instinctively select my military spec with full D.M.P paint job Land Rover so as to stealthily traverse the trail networks that are just riddled with white and silver SUVSw or seriously unguided velocity strike weapons, as I call them.
In fact this reminds me of a trip I didn't some years ago....
I was in my Land Rover negotiating a particularly hostile city track in downtown Australia, the SUVSw's were randomly being random and in great numbers. I was feeling safe and confident, the camouflage was doing its job, if they couldn't see me they'd be unlikely to hit me.
Then as if by un magic my car broke..not good. It was a particularly harrowing moment, had I been looking there would have been lots of quaint dwellings on both sides, possibly rustic ones too but my focus was on other things.. Stop,Think, Breathe. The mechanics of high class training. I'd been hoping this adventure would've demonstrated a nice little smug dish, probably garnished with a coriander and rocket salad but experience (and Land Rovers) has often taught me that things can change very quickly. Looking up at the sun I could see that elevensies was fast waning and that my situation was indeed dire. Against all training and common sense I decided to be rash and leave my vehicle, this after all being pure survival with only minutes to spare. I employed a little last resort trick that one can play, it's not recommended but it'll keep one mostly alive until lunchtime... A little recon provided what I'd been looking for, a box on a stalk that if coaxed actually talks, similar to tickling a fish ... and it payed off, a pod opened and a sack like type of fruit revealed six flat kidney shaped seeds that although bordering on toxic, taste somewhat but not quite like chicken and have a texture a bit like pre chewed packing foam and it's these seeds that I was after although the sack like pod can also be eaten and contains similar nutrients . Before I could explore the origins of this strange urban fruit the RAC mobile unit lurched into view, which was surprising as just looking back over my mindless scribbles I'd forgot to call them but sometimes you just get lucky.
It's not quite the same these days , but with ground goat hoof, 2tsp of a baking sofa and two oz's of used corn plasters ,blended, 180degrees for 20mins, Is the closest I've got to replicating that dish..........................and it's close enough.
It really makes me smile to remember that rustic dish I tasted first long ago and it really gives one hope to know that if things do indeed get dire and desperate, with a little forward thinking it is possible to make it through to lunch ,though whether you'd feel like eating when you get there is quite another thing.
Happy Christmas.
Love
Siobhan x
