8 ms·
Eating a manchineel “beach apple” (2000)
- mccourt 10y agoCool article. I wonder if the beach had any pertinent information/signage regarding the fruit. Obviously if the locals are aware then they wouldn't need it, but visitors would probably appreciate it. I wonder if it's more helpful to put information directly at the beach, or back at the airport in documentation in a variety of languages that people can carry with them?
- camiller 10y agoBefore my honeymoon in Barbados I read a travel guide. It was mentioned not to shelter under one during rain. I don't think the ones we saw were bearing fruit at the time. All of them were marked with a dark read stripe painted on them.
- lisper 10y agoSome of the trees in the more touristy areas are marked with warning signs: http://www.flownet.com/ron/trips/Amazon/Pages/526.html http://www.flownet.com/ron/trips/Amazon/Pages/526.html Not only do the signs warn you not to eat the fruit, but also not to stand under the tree when it rains!
- mccourt 10y agoThat's very helpful. Thanks for the link.
- jf 10y ago> but also not to stand under the tree when it rains! Why? According to the sign: "It is also not recommended to take shelter under this tree when it rains, water that runs off the leaves is corrosive" Frightening!
- msie 10y agoDammit! The fruit looks so delicious!
- whiddershins 10y agoI simply cannot imagine picking an unidentified piece of fruit from the ground and eating it. There are berries in the northeast that look much like cranberries, but as a kid I was told they are deadly poisonous. Regardless of the accuracy of that warning, the basic concept should hold: if you don't know what it is, don't assume it is safe.
- ryanackley 10y agoThis. It just baffles me that a reasonably intelligent person would eat unknown fruit found in the wild in a foreign country.
- Semiapies 10y agoLife is weird, and sometimes natural selection fires a warning shot...
- hansjorg 10y agoIf everybody had been as cautious as you two, nothing much would've happened.
- sosborn 10y ago> If everybody had been as cautious as you two, nothing much would've happened. The time for eating unidentified fruit is when you are dying of starvation.
- autarch 10y agoThere is a protocol for sampling unknown foods that I suspect aboriginal humans might have developed ad hoc. http://www.wikihow.com/Test-if-a-Plant-Is-Edible http://www.wikihow.com/Test-if-a-Plant-Is-Edible
- 13of40 10y agoFrom the link: "Eat 1/4 cup of the same kind of plant part prepared the same way." My father spent the last ten years of his career as an ethnobotanist (having previously been a government archaeologist) and his advice was increase the amount by doubling it with each subsequent test. Going from one piece of a leaf to 1/4 cup is a little bit too much of a leap, IMHO.
- mcbits 10y ago> Perhaps few adults (especially a medically qualified one) would be foolish enough to try eating an unknown fruit found on a foreign beach That's what was going through my mind for the whole story. And then to sit around sipping piña coladas as their symptoms worsened? Quite an unbelievable story, true or not.
- Kluny 10y agoI bet they had a few pina coladas before this episode, as well as after.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- ChuckMcM 10y agoReally? Am I so weird that I don't just pop random things I find on the ground into my mouth? The statement, "I rashly took a bite from this fruit and found it pleasantly sweet. My friend also partook (at my suggestion)." demonstrated at least two evolutionary negative traits; first eating random things when not starving, second not waiting to observe the effects of eating an unknown substance by someone silly enough to try it. That is right up there with trying to hold the brightly colored snake and big fuzzy spider.
- vacri 10y agoThe point of 'taste' is generally to find things safe to eat. It's not a 'random thing from the ground', but a fruiting body, which is almost universally safe to eat if it is sweet and not bitter.
- ChuckMcM 10y agoExcept the fruit in this article was sweet, AND highly toxic. I really don't think there is any scientific basis for the claim "safe if it's sweet".
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- ars 10y agoThat's exactly why this tree is so notorious. It's actually very very rare to be both sweet and toxic.
- vacri 10y agoThings in the natural world that nourish an animal generally appeal to that animal. It's why you find rotten flesh and faeces repulsive, but flies flock to it (and they don't flock to their own shit).
- finid 10y ago> The point of 'taste' is generally to find things safe to eat. Well, there were coconuts and mangoes around too, but our "medical" person chose to sample the only one he didn't know anything about. Alaskans have this thing they say about Darwin and natural selection. I Just don't recall how they frame it
- EvanAnderson 10y agoThere is some good additional detail in this article, too: http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/whatever-you-do-do-not-eat-touch-or-even-inhale-the-air-around-the-manchineel-tree http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/whatever-you-do-do-not-...
- djrogers 10y agoWhat the heck is up with the pagination on that site? I'm befuddled as to why anyone thought it was a good idea to spend any amount of effort on that...
- cyberferret 10y agoIf you are going to pick up or poke, or scariest of all - taste, the local flora and fauna without first checking with a local, then I predict a very short existence for you in most tropical zones, or here in Australia...
- x0x0 10y agoOr Yellowstone. Very little of the wildlife there is petable. At least not more than once.
- gohrt 10y agoTechies: blog at medium.com Doctors: blog at thebmj.com Also: Admins, please add [2000] to the title
- LoSboccacc 10y agoPage 1/14 each having a few lines? Must be one of the worst mobile version I've encountered in a long time.
- dzdt 10y agoThe pdf link produces a nice mobile experience.
- amelius 10y agoSo what should the protocol be then? First rub a little of the juice on the skin, wait a few hours, and see if it stings? And if not, then proceed, but how?
- djrogers 10y agoSurvival protocol for unknown fruits and berries is to rub a small amount on your bottom lip and wait a while. Then ingest a small amount and wait a while. Increase amount you're eating while monitoring effects and 'output'... Please note, this is not professional advice - if you try this and die or spend 9 days on the throne I'm not responsible. It's a survival technique, intended for use when not eating anything will kill you, while eating the wrong thing might kill you.
- tempestn 10y agoFrom another comment: http://www.wikihow.com/Test-if-a-Plant-Is-Edible http://www.wikihow.com/Test-if-a-Plant-Is-Edible
- moxie 10y agoIt's not just the fruit, contact with the leaves is similar to contact with poison ivy or poison oak. Sometimes people take shelter under the tree when it rains and end up in bad shape. I led a program for teens in the Caribbean one summer. One of my teens took a shit in the woods on an island, and unknowingly wiped his ass with a leaf from this tree. It was a long 5 weeks for him.
- dharma1 10y agoIf you've ever wondered what evolutionary pressures make some fruits poisonous to humans/mammals, and some delicious, here is a good write up. http://www.kew.org/discover/blogs/archived-blogs/trouble-paradise-%E2%80%93-why-fruits-are-poisonous http://www.kew.org/discover/blogs/archived-blogs/trouble-par... And a book from the same author: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fruit-Inedible-Incredible-Wolfgang-Stuppy/dp/1608872815 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fruit-Inedible-Incredible-Wolfgang-...
- rbosinger 10y ago"We ate a weird fruit and got poisoned. True story." Why is this on the front page of Hacker News?
- unfunco 10y ago34 comments so far, some of us find it interesting.
- rbosinger 10y agoI found it interesting too. I just don't understand why it's on this site. I'd expect it on Reddit maybe.
- bobbles 10y agoI guess it helps you to remember that no matter how reasonably logical you think people might be, there are plenty of people out there who will eat random food they find off the ground
- rbosinger 10y agoSo, in the context of Hacker News, is it an analogy of how we tend to dive head first into new technologies which some times end up poisoning us? ;}
- kyleblarson 10y agoDarwin loves you.
- finid 10y agoTraveling in a foreign country, a "medical" person found "some green fruits among the scattered coconuts and mangoes lying on the beach" and proceeded to eat the only one (s)he has never eaten before. Fast forward a decade. That medical person is now a surgeon. While performing routine surgery, our "medical" person saw a lump he'd never seen or read about before. Guess what Einstein did?
- DiabloD3 10y ago(S)he.... ate it? Not sure where you were going with that story.
- ensignet 10y agoThe implied outcome is brash assumptions that lead to negative outcomes. Assuming all fruits are edible might imply the tendency for a similar assumption that all lumps are cancer, and proceeding accordingly.
- twic 10y ago> Sadly, the pain was exacerbated by most alcoholic beverages, although mildly appeased by pina coladas This is a crucial finding. Clearly, public authorities in Caribbean countries must now install refrigerators stocked with piña colada on all public beaches, as an urgent matter of public safety.
- read_only 10y agoIf you liked the beach apple story, perhaps you'll find this article about intentionally and regularly eating poison oak to be fascinating. https://yankeebarbareno.com/2011/03/03/eating-poison-oak/ https://yankeebarbareno.com/2011/03/03/eating-poison-oak/
- jonah 10y agoMy dad does this every year with Poison Ivy on his farm. Claims it works.
- Mz 10y agoSo, having medical training fails to provide you with the most basic survival skills.
- flashman 10y agoIf you are in a survival situation and need to know if something is edible, use the Universal Edibility Test: http://pdf.textfiles.com/manuals/MILITARY/united_states_army_fm_21-76%20-%205_june_1992%20-%20part05.pdf http://pdf.textfiles.com/manuals/MILITARY/united_states_army... (Do not repeat do not eat unknown fungi even using this test) 1 Test only one part of a potential food plant at a time. 2 Separate the plant into its basic components -leaves, stems, roots, buds, and flowers. 3 Smell the food for strong or acid odors. Remember, smell alone does not indicate a plant is edible or inedible. 4 Do not eat for 8 hours before starting the test. S During the 8 hours you abstain from eating, test for contact poisoning by placing a piece of the plant part you are testing on the inside of your elbow or wrist. Usually 15 minutes is enough time to allow for a reaction. 6 During the test period, take nothing by mouth except purified water and the plant part you are testing. 7 Select a small portion of a single part and prepare it the way you plan to eat it. a Before placing the prepared plant part in your mouth, touch a small portion (a pinch) to the outer surface of your lip to test for buming or itching. 9 If after 3 minutes there is no reaction on your lip, place the plant part on your tongue, holding it there for 15 minutes. 10 If there is no reaction, thoroughly chew a pinch and hold it in your mouth for 15 minutes. Do not swallow. 11 If no burning, itching, numbing, stinging, or other irritation occurs during the 15 minutes. swallow the food. 12 Wait 8 hours. If any ill effects occur during this period. induce vomiting and drink a lot of water. 13 If no ill effects occur, eat 0.25 cup of the same plant part prepared the same way. Wait another 8 hours. If no ill effects occur, the plant part as prepared is safe for eating. WARNING Do not eat mushrooms in a survival situation! The only way to tell if a mushroom is edible is by positive identification. There is no room for experimentation. Symptoms of the most dangerous mushrooms affecting the central nervous system may show up after several days have passed when it is too late to reverse their effects.
- mkstowegnv 10y agoMaybe the most frightening thing is that this person apparently went through medical training and never learned rudimentary field biology. Tour guides in wild areas all over the world have a "this is not Disney World" or equivalent mantra. Life is not like television, unless it is the right television. As a child I watched https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_Across_the_Everglades https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_Across_the_Everglades where the Burl Ives character kills a man by tieing him to a manchineel tree and will forever remember him wickedly proclaiming "The manchineel tree, the only tree that can carve its initials in you".