Early Europeans ate seaweed for thousands of years • Hacker News Board

Re: Early Europeans ate seaweed for thousands of years

#241

Post by snowpid » Fri, Oct 20, 2023, 3:08 PM UTC

tessierashpool wrote: post #237

thedaly wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think our ancestors had the luxury of being vegan.

I don't think our ancestors had the luxury of being vegan. on the evolutionary scale, this is provably false. all the great apes are vegetarian. we have flat, grinding teeth like cows, and long intestinal tracts like cows too -- not the quick, short intestinal tracts of predators or their sharp, pointy teeth. strictly speaking, not even cows are vegan. not absolutely, perfectly, and totally. one of the weird side eff…

Chimpazees do hunting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimpanzee#Hunting

" their sharp, pointy teeth." Humen can create weapons and fire. No need for long teeth.

Australopithecus did eat animals. "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australopithecus#Diet"

Its a common misconception among vegetarians that humen were originally vegetarians. Quiet the opposite is true.

we have evidence for hunter gathering societies since 1.8 million years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter-gatherer#Archaeological...

Re: Early Europeans ate seaweed for thousands of years

#242

Post by raffraffraff » Fri, Oct 20, 2023, 3:12 PM UTC

thaumasiotes wrote: post #235

raffraffraff wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're probably mostly right. There was a different type poverty back then. These days owning your own home is a dream, but you can walk into a supermarket and buy things that my father wouldn't have dreamt of as a child. Cooked chickens? Every type of fresh fruit and vegetable from all parts of the globe? A frozen food section? Jesus. Remember that video of Yeltsin in the US supermarket? My father is 96. He grew up…

> Even the poor families in our part of the world owned their own house and a plot of land. Daily bread was the big issue! Owning your own land is how you go from being a poor bachelor to being a poor family. It is definitely not the case in general in the ancient world that poor people are likely to own land. (Though also: were there no Travelers in rural Ireland?)

Even when I was growing up in the 80s the poorest family I knew owned their own home. It was an ancient cottage with an extension built on. The reason they were poor was that they had 7 kids and one very low income. I remember a photo of a bunch of us, aged 11, outside the school. The kid from that family was wearing a distinctive sweater with a band name from 8 years previous. Home-knitted by his mother. It has several owners before it got to him. The band weren't even cool any more, and everybody recognized it. Someone saying "Haha! John (eldest brother) was wearing that in his school photo! Look, it's up on the wall over there!"

These days, the poorest people I know have 42" TVs, smart phones and deliveroo 4 nights a week (ok, from McDonald's, but still...). But they'll never own their own homes, never have "security", and their cars are knackered. But still, compare their materialist luxury to that of my dad's childhood. Or even mine in the early 80s.

Re: Early Europeans ate seaweed for thousands of years

#243

Post by cmrdporcupine » Fri, Oct 20, 2023, 4:25 PM UTC

thaumasiotes wrote: post #234

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The etymology is completely distinct tho, not a cognate. From Old Irish duilesc (compare Scottish Gaelic duileasg), from Proto-Celtic doliskos, duliskos (compare Welsh delysg), from Proto-Indo-European dʰelh₁- (“to bloom, be green”) (compare duille (“leaf”)). Whereas Latin 'dulcis' comes from PIE dl̥kús ("sweet") Actually probably cognate with Latin 'folium' (Italian foglia, French 'feuille'). EDIT: Actually no. Not…

Comparing this other comment: > Note that phonetically dulce in NI would be pronounced "dulis." is interesting in that the modern pronunciation looks much closer to the ancient pronunciation than the modern spelling is to either. What happened?

I am not an Irish (or any kind of Celtic) speaker but orthography for those languages looks absolutely crazy to me. Both Welsh and Irish / Scottish Gaelic look like languages that might have benefited from their own alphabet, or at least the addition of some diacritical marks.

We also have no real idea how proto-Celtic or even Gaulish or early old Irish would have been pronounced. Only best guesses. We have inscriptions in e.g Gaulish from Roman times but they look to me suspiciously Latinized.

And then look at English.. it's a mismash of a bunch of different orthograpic conventions -- Anglo-Saxon, Norman French, Nordic, Latin, Greek... and makes no sense. Even us native speakers have no absolute certainty how to pronounce a word they've never seen before.

Re: Early Europeans ate seaweed for thousands of years

#244

Post by pvaldes » Fri, Oct 20, 2023, 4:37 PM UTC

londons_explore wrote: post #98

Seaweed from clean ocean is still great food. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the earths oceans are now polluted with human waste and other things that will make you sick. I'd eat seaweed only if it was grown in a tank with actually clean water...

Good point, but I think (could be wrong) that none of this algae grow well in very polluted waters. Most red and brown ones live typically in cold, rocky areas and well oxygenated waters.

Its quality may vary a lot if they are picked fresh or after being dettached by storms etc.

Salicornia is more related with Quinoa or cacti than with algae. Crithmum is a carrot's cousin from cliffs. none of these are seaweeds.

Re: Early Europeans ate seaweed for thousands of years

#245

Post by pvaldes » Fri, Oct 20, 2023, 4:41 PM UTC

raducu wrote: post #219

tecleandor wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kind of funny it's salty but it's called dulce/dulse (Spanish for 'sweet'). I'd love to know the pronunciation for 'Duileasg'

In romanian it's the same; but it can also mean "fresh" in the context of dairy. It's the same in Spanish?

> It's the same in Spanish?

not. Dulce means sweet or candy in Spanish, but not fresh

Re: Early Europeans ate seaweed for thousands of years

#246

Post by FooBarBizBazz » Fri, Oct 20, 2023, 5:09 PM UTC

ars wrote: post #192

oregano wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our ancestors didn’t abuse animals on the scale we do now.

Ancient people did not see animals are beings with feeling, they were seen as useful production machines. It's only in modern times that we have the luxury of taking the animal's feeling into account at all. I'm sure you would want even more consideration for the animals, but it's much better today than it was.

"A wise person does not kill any living being."

- Mahavira, 6th century BC

(Translated, of course.)

Re: Early Europeans ate seaweed for thousands of years

#247

Post by HumblyTossed » Fri, Oct 20, 2023, 5:44 PM UTC

I am not sure I would want to live that long, especially if I had to eat seaweed.

Jokes aside:

> That timespan is significant, as archaeologists had long assumed that the introduction of farming during the Neolithic era meant that early humans largely abandoned such foods from the sea, according to a statement from the researchers.

You know what they say about assuming...

Re: Early Europeans ate seaweed for thousands of years

#248

Post by ughitsaaron » Fri, Oct 20, 2023, 5:44 PM UTC

After trying to perfect my ramen broth recipe I’ve incorporated seaweed into all kinds of other foods. I made an outstanding (if I may say so) ragu the other day that I began by including dried seaweed (and bonito flakes) in the soffritto.

Re: Early Europeans ate seaweed for thousands of years

#249

Post by ssnistfajen » Fri, Oct 20, 2023, 6:19 PM UTC

civilitty wrote: post #213

ssnistfajen wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think people in North America no longer see offal (or seaweed) as edible food for humans despite the opposite? It's because of hyperindustrialization has distorted how these people view food ingredients.

What are you talking about? Tripe is a bog standard ingredient in Mexican cuisine seen on every menu from the southern tip of Mexico to Toronto. It’s the basis for sausages and hot dogs , an American staple. You can buy offal at almost any supermarket. Why would they carry it if people in North America didn’t see it as food? The reason most Americans don’t eat it is better options. Like rib eye steak and a salad. You…

You know which socio-cultural group I am talking about and it's not Mexicans. Sausage casings are also overwhelmingly synthetic especially for mass manufactured hotdogs.

Premium cuts became "better options" because of hyperindustrialization, which made those cuts more affordable than before. This is a point you raised yourself in an earlier comment.

The only reason you can buy seaweed at Costco and Walmart is because of multicultural immigrants and globalization, which are starting to undo the hyperindustrialization of the food industry even if by just a little bit.

Re: Early Europeans ate seaweed for thousands of years

#250

Post by carstenhag » Fri, Oct 20, 2023, 8:43 PM UTC

eftychis wrote: post #54

And still do? It is still eaten in the Mediterranean. (e.g. salad.) Is the article supposed to be surprising or just keeping us updated on the oldest findings? It seems it thinks the former.

Not sure what countries or places you mean, but I lived in Spain for 13 years near Valencia and have never seen this at a meal. Maybe in sushi, doesn't count imo.