Article – What to Eat After the Apocalypse

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In 1841, an invasive water mold began to infect the world’s potatoes. Starting from Mexico, the infectious agent of blight traveled up through North America, then crossed the Atlantic. Eventually it reached Ireland, where, as the journalist Charles Mann described it, “four out of ten Irish ate no solid food except potatoes, and … the rest were heavily dependent on them.”

The Great Famine, as it came to be known, could have been avoided in any number of ways, not least by ceasing the export of food from Ireland to Britain. But the British government failed to take effective action. The question of avoiding starvation becomes harder still if some apocalyptic event causes the whole world to starve. How might a government prepare for a worst-case scenario?

As a survivalist, I’m all about caring where my next meal is coming from. I am less about caring where the rest of the worlds next meal is coming from.

Assuming some sort of “The Road”-esque disaster that reduces the global supply of food, I would imagine that the global supply of people will also suffer in very short order. Or, put another way, when the freeze dried porkchops and barrels of rice are exhausted in a year or so there are going to be a lot less people out there needing food.

Honestly, the notion of some sort of global famine ranks pretty low down there on  my probability list. Localized famine, maybe. But it’s interesting to see that there are people thinking about the subject.

Interestingly, the article seems to take itself seriously about ‘feeding the world’ after some sort of global disaster but even now, in a time of relative calm, we still can’t feed the entire world. Additionally, I’m not sure we have an obligation to do so but thats another argument.

8 thoughts on “Article – What to Eat After the Apocalypse”

  1. Looking around my locale and its population, it wouldn’t take long for “survival of the fittest” to weed out a significant chunk of inhabitants here. Acerbated by the fact that we are 60 -70 miles from anywhere,don’t grow any real foodstuffs, and have a very large demographic totally dependent on .Gov gimmes.

    It would take about 90 days for most to starve if there were a total cessation of food deliveries and failure of the water supply (very few know how to purify river water, let alone deal with their phones not working). However, the level of violence I anticipate in such a situation from these people prior to them doing the “Kickin Chicken” is a very real threat to those who ARE prepared. I feel no obligation to try to help them and understand and plan accordingly as to what they are capable of.

    Regards

  2. From what I got out of the article, it looks like the authors were working under the presumption that an effective government would survive an apocalyptic event such as nuclear war with the capability to act intact. Having seen the response of governments to hurricanes like Katrina and last year’s Maria which were nowhere as bad as a nuclear war would be, I suspect that these guys are living in a dream world.

  3. …”feeding the world’….
    Certainly more ‘doable’ on e the population is reduced by ~90%.
    Not hoping for it, but it would t shock me if it happened.

  4. The cannibal pot would be full for rather a long while, I think, in light of the poor health habits of many these days. After that is when things would get interesting. Then it comes down to the plans made for hunker down or Not Be There…I do prefer the latter but suspect the odds are the former will be demanded…

  5. In opposition to the global warming crowd and their attempts to salvage their cause by re-tooling into the climate change issue, there exists some very real data that correlates with the Maunder Minimum. The 11 year sunspot cycle has been followed for a very long time. The peaks and troughs have been showing a downward trend, and there is a distinct possibility that global temperatures will continue to fall for the next 10 or 20 years as a direct result of a steady decrease in solar output. If this turns out to be the case, significant global food shortages could be a real possibility.

  6. My current plans have food and water on site for about six months. I figure after that in a “major event” that when I go around the neighborhood it would be less “looting” and more scavenging for what is left.

    But I always put away more and more.

  7. If there’s any time of disaster that cripples global agriculture, we’re all basically screwed. No amount of food storage, looting, or even cannibalism is going to get anyone through 12 months without a harvest of some kind. Even hunting and fishing will only go so far to support the current population.

  8. CZ, In my preps I maintain about a yrs worth of food and four seasons worth of seeds to grow vegetables. In my climate it is a short growing season so a green house would be very helpful. This may not work well as I am not a farmer, but I have books and other resources to help me learn, plus a small garden each year for practical purposes. TTFN

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