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You think a few weeks will turn lawn grass into an abundant food supply? Actual wheat takes months before it's ready to harvest. If, on the day of the apocalyp

You think a few weeks will turn lawn grass into an abundant food supply? Actual wheat takes months before it's ready to harvest. If, on the day of the apocalypse, every single person in NYC dug up the lawns and parks and planted every inch with edible grains, they'd all starve to death long before getting any bread. If they planted before the apocalypse so that the harvest came in just before the shit went down, they'd still starve to death, because a city doesn't have enough arable land to feed even 1% of its occupants. The amount of land required to keep NYC fed is larger than the city itself. That's putting aside the fact that there's nothing in lawn grass that humans can get enough calories out of to even make up for the effort of harvesting.

Alex3917 10y ago
So in your typical NYC grass you have: dandelion, chicory, common mallow, burdock, curly dock, bitter dock, red clover, plantain, various onions and mustards, etc. All of that stuff gets pretty big very fast if you don't mow over it. Obviously you still can't feed yourself on only plants, but the quantity of edible plants would probably outstrip the number of people who knew what they were. NYC has 30,000 acres of public parks, and tons more unofficial open space.
- PhasmaFelis 10y ago
  Just because you can eat something doesn't mean it will keep you alive. Dandelion greens, for example, definitely don't provide enough calories to make up for what you spend gathering them. I'm not sure they have enough to make up for just the effort of chewing and digesting them. Everything you've mentioned there is just greens except for the plantains and onions, which will certainly be stripped bare in days. The rest might liven up a salad, but it definitely won't give you the protein and calories to stave off starvation.
  - Alex3917 10y ago
    Red clover actually has a lot of protein. The folks who survived the Irish potato famine were the ones who never abandoned the traditional Celtic practice of eating clover in favor of potatoes.
    - PhasmaFelis 10y ago
      Maybe so. You still won't meet your bulk calorie needs from greens alone.

Alex3917 10y ago

So in your typical NYC grass you have: dandelion, chicory, common mallow, burdock, curly dock, bitter dock, red clover, plantain, various onions and mustards, etc. All of that stuff gets pretty big very fast if you don't mow over it. Obviously you still can't feed yourself on only plants, but the quantity of edible plants would probably outstrip the number of people who knew what they were. NYC has 30,000 acres of public parks, and tons more unofficial open space.

PhasmaFelis 10y ago
Just because you can eat something doesn't mean it will keep you alive. Dandelion greens, for example, definitely don't provide enough calories to make up for what you spend gathering them. I'm not sure they have enough to make up for just the effort of chewing and digesting them. Everything you've mentioned there is just greens except for the plantains and onions, which will certainly be stripped bare in days. The rest might liven up a salad, but it definitely won't give you the protein and calories to stave off starvation.
- Alex3917 10y ago
  Red clover actually has a lot of protein. The folks who survived the Irish potato famine were the ones who never abandoned the traditional Celtic practice of eating clover in favor of potatoes.
  - PhasmaFelis 10y ago
    Maybe so. You still won't meet your bulk calorie needs from greens alone.