Being on a constant verge of starvation has been very much the norm through most of history, which is attested by this list of major famines: https://en.wikipe

Being on a constant verge of starvation has been very much the norm through most of history, which is attested by this list of major famines: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_famines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_famines Bear in mind these are just the most famous famines, there were constant localised famines going on all the time.