20 Puzzling Foods That Might Make You Think 'How The Frick Did Our Ancestors Find Out This Was Edible?'

Have you ever thought about how humans discovered that some mushrooms were edible or how they came up with the complicated process of making bread or coffee?

Today, we have all the information we need available on the internet, so it’s easier to figure things out, but imagine not knowing what’s poisonous and what’s not and yet being able to discover what to eat and how to eat them. A Redditor recently wondered, “What food made you think how the frick did our ancestors found out this was edible?” Scroll below to see some interesting responses to his question.

More info: Reddit

#1 Bread

Bread! Like how did someone put all the ingredients together to make the bread!! I think about it all the time.

Image source: delpheroid, stu_spivack

#2 Chili Peppers

Chili peppers.

Like imagine finding this pepper, taking a bite, and then feeling your entire mouth feel like it is on fire. Then you decide it’s actually really good though and start including it into dishes to add spice.

Image source: -eDgAR-, amanderson2

#3 Mushrooms

Some mushrooms that require special preparation. Eat it raw or cook it like most other shrooms and you end up dead. Boil it 3-5 times however, and it’s fine.

Edit: An example of a mushroom requiring this procedure is Gyromitra esculenta.

Image source: anon, Marco Verch

#4 Honey

Honey. When something is guarded by swarms of easily pissed off insects with poisoned a*s darts, you would think that would be enough of a deterrent that nobody would f**k with it.

Image source: coconut-greek-yogurt, Alabama Extension

#5 Coffee

Coffee. Can’t eat the beans as-is; gotta roast ‘em first. Whoops, not yet; gotta grind ‘em. Hmm, not quite right yet, let’s pour water over them and drink the water. Hmm .. let’s try using *hot* water. Perfect!

Image source: OriginallyFromNYC, WordRidden

#6 Oysters

Oysters.

Someone looked at that snotty looking thing from a shell and thought “yeah I’m gonna put that in my mouth”

Image source: youdontknowme6, samantha celera

#7 Puffer Fish

Puffer fish; only a small part of the fish is edible and the rest is deadly poisonous, so how did they find out which bit was edible.

Image source: Michael_Stone_UDA, rjp

#8 Rice

Rice, who looked at a piece of thicc grass and thought: “yeah, I’ll dry it out, bash it about then polish it and boil it just before it turns into a sloppy mess”

Image source: snortypuff, JoslynLM

#9 Nopales

Nopales, a kind of cactus, and it’s fruit have been a staple in Mexico for millennia. I’ve always wondered what went through our ancestors’ heads. “That plant and it’s fruit is covered in thorns…I bet they’re delicious”.

Image source: ThePeasantKingM, Paul Asman and Jill Lenob

#10 Durian

Durian! It’s super spiky, it seems like it’d be tough to open (though I’m not 100% sure) and apparently it smells rank.

Image source: yirao, Amy Ross

#11 Truffles

anon said:

Truffles

ElectricErik replied:

If the pigs are eating it, it must be f*****g delicious

Image source: anon, Scott Darbey

#12 Lobster

Lobsters. “Well this looks horrifying, i think I’ll taste it. “

Image source: aquoad, Adrian Scottow

#13 Gympie-Gympie Plant

The fruit of the gympie-gympie plant. It is also known as the suicide plant because its sting is so painful that there have been reports of people and animals taking their own life to escape the pain, which can last for days or even years. The sting is delivered by tiny hairs that cover the whole plant, yet someone was able to discover that if you painstakingly remove each hair from the fruit, it is edible.

Image source: __hey__its__me__, Udo Schröter

#14 Cassava

The cassava…

“However, cassava is poisonous unless it is peeled and thoroughly cooked. If it is eaten raw or prepared incorrectly, one of its chemical constituents will be attacked by digestive enzymes and give off the deadly poison cyanide. As little as two cassava roots can contain a fatal dose.”

Image source: nuovi, Thomas Quine