MetaChat - Let's assume you're moving to an island forever

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24 June 2008

Let's assume you're moving to an island forever →[More:] You get to choose 7 plants that will provide all your nutritional needs (protein, fat, fiber, spice etc.)
All 7 plants will do fine on this hypothetical island.

What 7 would you choose?

PS: This includes fruit.

post by: special-k at: 19:32 | 36 comments

Tomato, basil, corn (I don't know how to mill wheat), orange, apple, peas, broccoli.

posted by LoriFLA 24 June | 19:38

Mine:
Corn (good for cooking oil too)
Wheat (all kinds of breads, beer)
Sweet Potato (starch)
Spinach (something green)
Red Peppers
Mango (my favorite fruit)
Grapes (more fruit, wine)

posted by special-k 24 June | 19:38

I love tomatoes too. OK, I'll swap out grapes for tomatoes.

posted by special-k 24 June | 19:41

Burrito plant, Diet Coke tree, Bagel bush, Cream Cheese vine, etc.

posted by mullacc 24 June | 19:42

Mango
Potato
Chili (Anaheim)
Beans
Corn
Strawberries
What's that one in the tropics? Cassava.

Then I'd die. Unless I could fish.

posted by lysdexic 24 June | 19:42

I think I'll swap my peas for spinach. If I'm stuck there for the rest of my life spinach would be a better bet. And potato! Good one. I might have to trade something for potato.

posted by LoriFLA 24 June | 19:43

Superfruit

posted by Eideteker 24 June | 20:18

I think we're mostly in survival mode here. But maybe quantities are unlimited and the harvest is reliable?
I'd probably go with:
potato
beans
banana
wheat
spinach
almonds
apples

posted by DarkForest 24 June | 20:20

tomato
potato
orange
basil
corn
rice
soy

And there will be an abundance of avocados on the island already.

posted by rhapsodie 24 June | 21:17

peanut butter, bacon, banana, toast, milk. it's hypothetical, right? My bacon tree is the finest in all the land.

posted by jessamyn 24 June | 22:22

Wow, jessamyn, that's basically Breakfast Island. All you need is a waffle bush, a syrup well, and a hot coffee lagoon and you're set.

posted by bmarkey 24 June | 22:30

are you kidding, that's just one sandwich!

heh, waffle bush

posted by jessamyn 24 June | 23:08

tomato, potato, pineapple, onion, rice, soybean. can i grow some hemp, too?

posted by jtron 24 June | 23:08

I initially read this as You get to choose 7 pants. You shoulda been here, it was hilarious, cuz ya know, who eats pants?
LOLPANTS

posted by Hellbient 24 June | 23:24

Okay, let's say medicinal plants have already been covered (thanks, jtron!). Off the top of my head, how about rice, potatoes, spinach, blueberries, honeydew, garlic and hot peppers? Wait, needs beans. And citrus fruit. And are hops a medicinal plant? Can we come back to me?

posted by box 24 June | 23:59

Mango
Cilantro
Spinach
Rice
Potato
Custard Apple
Tomato

This is hard and if you asked me again tomorrow, I'd probably give you seven different veggies ;.;

posted by theicono 25 June | 01:07

Banana
Strawberry
Pineapple
Broccoli
Rice
Beans
Carrots

posted by essexjan 25 June | 01:11

avocado (food and oil, mad vitamins)
rice (food, bread, noodles, vinegar, wine)
peppers (food and spice)
sweet potato (food, bread, mad vitamins)
spinach (I'm strong to the finish 'cause I eats me spinach)
lemon (juice and flavoring, death to scurvy)
garlic (spice, super-medicinal, makes life worth living)

#7 was really difficult... I waffled between tomatoes, tea, and garlic. Still not sure about that one, but I'm assuming we're eating a buttload of fish and seafood, and dammit, I want my garlic and lemon for that stuff.

I'm also making certain assumptions... since this only asks for plants, we have sources of clothing fiber, like silk, let's say, and trees for rope fiber, etc. We have a source of sugar - honey, and date palms, maybe, and a source of yeast - wild island yeast! We have coconut trees! For oil, coconut fiber, and, um, coconut. Otherwise, I'm going to have to switch one of those for hemp. As long as I'm cheating with trees (except fruit trees), I'm going to go ahead and throw in coffee trees. Ha!

I reserve the right to refine this list.

posted by taz 25 June | 01:41

Also, when I look at that list, all of it is stuff that we have around here every single day (nearly. we don't have avocados every day, but we might as well - it's only because of price that we don't), except the yams... thinking of switching yams for beans or tomatoes. Or corn. Corn is good because of... tortillas! And cornbread (we have goat milk, and eggs, of course). And grits (yummy island grits). But you can make a rice "tortilla" - though it doesn't have that great corn tortilla flavor. But corn is not so great on the vitamins, etc. Yams are nice for a sweet, as well, but one can also make stuff like rice pudding or corn pudding.

But yams are superloaded with vitamins (and fiber, I think - and provide a texture that none of the other stuff really does)... which is the only reason I included them. We hardly ever eat them, though, and we do have tomatoes every day. Tomatoes are good as an ingredient, and good as a salad alone, also as a juice, and you don't get tired of them. aargh. Tomatoes are much more useful in seafood/fish stew than yams.

This is hard.

posted by taz 25 June | 02:18

But the good news is that as long as we have my rice, we can eat sushi and miso soup (rice miso, in this case) every day! If I could (without a ton of trouble on my end), I'd do that even if I weren't living on an island.

I'm pretty much sure I'm going to replace yams with tomatoes. Objections? Alternate suggestions?

and yeah, I'm pretty much just talking to myself right now, because nobody is awake to play. And the down-unders are apparently all out at the pub. And the Europeans seem to be working or something else equally foolish. boo.

posted by taz 25 June | 02:51

Well, what you have to take into account is what's already on your island. I'm assuming that if I'm going to move to this island forever, I've done my homework and have a pretty good idea as to what flora and fauna I can expect. If there's already wild rice established there, that's one less plant to worry about. Ditto for fruit, onion/garlic analogs, etc.

posted by bmarkey 25 June | 03:10

I'm going to go and live on jessamyn's island. I'll bring an apple tree for making cider, tomatoes for making into tomato sauce, coffee plants and a chocolate vine.

posted by dg 25 June | 03:29

oooh, ooh! Awake people!

... bmarkey, I think you have to assume no native plants as such, otherwise the exercise doesn't make sense, right? I'm playing a bit with idea of trees that are native to the island versus plants (no fruit trees, though, because our list also includes fruit), and taking some liberties there. But really, if we have to supply our clothing and other cloth needs from our list of plants, there's pretty much no getting around hemp, though it's not quite as useful to us as a food item.

There is such a thing as "wild silk" that might be used (that doesn't rely on mulberry trees, which I guess would be off-limits except as one of our list things, because it's a fruit tree), but I imagine that's really pretty much difficult and limited. Bamboo? Is it a trees or a "plant"? Bamboo would be terribly useful, and it can be used to make clothing - though I think it's usually mixed with some cotton. Maybe we could add a bit of goat angora or something. (I told you, we have goats! We have to have goats!) Nut trees would be good. I think we can have those, technically.

posted by taz 25 June | 04:08

You know what, forget the cloth fiber. We all bring our pets and make cat and dog (and other assorted animal) suits... just look at the kitty- and doggy-fed dustbunnies rolling around this place. We can harvest those!

We could have made a huge meeting tent just from the fur we buzzed off my dog when we got her... or a few hundred mattresses. Just don't get 'em wet.

posted by taz 25 June | 04:16

Without think too awfully hard about it, I arrive at potato, cabbage, lentils, spinach, hot pepper, pineapple, banana.

Yams are pretty good. They could float onto there and displace something else at any time. I can't not imagine that I would occasionally get some fish or birds or game, and my list would make some good simple stews.

It's my island, right? I don't have "clothing needs".

posted by Wolfdog 25 June | 04:35

true, I thought of that, but I would want clothes to protect against the sun - and the occasional awning, tent, blanket, pillow, whatever. I'm pitifully human in my need for cloth reassurance. Which is why the sturdier aliens/natives will always win. Against me.

posted by taz 25 June | 07:36

Also, since this appears to be the place I've chosen to blather (on, and, on, and on), and there doesn't seem to be a SHOUTING thread going, I just have to say, gottdam, it's hot! It's insanely, insanely hot, and it's only June. Our outdoor thermometer already broke (on a cooler day than today), and the online temp says it's 100F, though it's definitely at least five degrees hotter than that here, and feels like 10 degrees hotter. Or more. It feels close to the bad old 115F we got to last summer. The electricity has already gone out once, and I keep hearing helicopters and low-flying planes (which are scaring the crap out of my dog), which means, probably, fire somewhere around here, though I can't see or smell anything yet. Fuck.

On my island, it never, ever gets hotter than 80-85F, okay?

posted by taz 25 June | 07:46

I was really enjoying the heat wave we had, but it's broken now. I also enjoy a lot when the power's out. Perhaps we are each in the wrong place.

posted by Wolfdog 25 June | 08:01

It's fucking freezing here, FWIW.

posted by dg 25 June | 08:05

I only love Greece for the scenery, the lax laws, and the outdoor tavernas. And the wacky leftists and stuff. I hate it for the heat and the corruption, and the fact that Chinese takeout is ridiculously expensive, as is any kind of ethnic food. I also like the weird, gruff bad manners (but heart of gold, you know the drill) here. I like it because it can't quite figure out if it is East or West (Asian or European), or (going the other way) Balkan or European. It is a very confused place, really... so probably I belong here. But I want the median temperature of 30 years ago, please.

posted by taz 25 June | 08:23

Yep... as I thought, Ymittos is on fire again. There are videos of this on youtube from a year ago, but my connection is sucking (maybe because of this) and I can't get anything to play, so can't connect to anything specific. Also, a few hours earlier, my dog went to the window and started barking, which is super weird because she's only barked about three times in two months (one "woof", basically, two of those times so not quite barking; and the only sustained barking was at a dog that was trying to attack), and there was nothing/nobody there, and no commotion in the neighborhood. So I was puzzled, but closed the window, and then she ran to another window and sat there sniffing and sniffing and seeming upset, and I couldn't figure out why. I guess she smelled the smoke a long time ago.

posted by taz 25 June | 09:07

Winged beans
Oranges
Coco (as opposed to Coca, which just missed the cut)
Potatoes
Flax
Grapes
Corn (complete protien with the beans)

posted by danf 25 June | 12:35

Beans, corn, and squash (the three sisters). Avocado. Kale or chard. Orange tree and potatoes. Can I have chickens as well?

posted by stet 25 June | 15:00

Plants:
Spinach
Shallots
Potatoes
Black Beans
Tomatoes
Hot peppers
Corn
(I wish I could also have sugarcane, avocado, and blackberries)

Pants:
skinny dark wash jeans to wear when waving to passing sailors
cargo pants for the days when I am constructing my lean-to
my pj bottoms with the monkeys on them
scrubs for the hot summer days
wool pants for winter
long underwear also for winter
Big roomy durable jeans for all usees

posted by rmless2 25 June | 15:50

Potato
Tomato
Avocado
Onions
Garlic
Banana
Dope

posted by pompomtom 25 June | 19:48

A brassica, an allium, a legume for protein, a squash, a citrus, a stone fruit, a seed grass. Specifics depend on the growing conditions.

posted by tangerine 26 June | 14:41

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