The human body is a remarkably adaptable device.
When fur traders moved into what is now the northern Prairies, they survived on what food was available.
If you’re delving 1,000 miles into the wilderness there’s only so much you can pack with you.
At the reconstructed Fort Carlton on the North Saskatchewan River, historical records indicate the fur trading companies in the 17th and 18th centuries brought out young Scotsmen to keep records of transactions. Scottish schools were respected for their training in arithmetic and bookkeeping practices.
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It was a Spartan existence. They rose early, counted the furs, recorded their findings in books of account, ate and slept.
These Scots probably had been raised on oatmeal. Suddenly they faced the fur-trading diet of from six to seven pounds of meat per day. The meat could be moose, elk, deer, bear, buffalo and, in season, goose or duck. If you want to know how much meat that is to eat in a day, take seven 16-ounce steaks and lay them out on your barbecue. That’s a lot of chewing.
Berries in season, pemmican, hard tack biscuits and bannock provided what variety there was. No wonder transplanted Europeans experimented with growing vegetables and cereals.
Stomach upsets must have been common and outdoor biffies aren’t the most welcoming of places in cold weather.
The fact that most of these young men survived indicates the human intestine can stand a dramatic variation in diet.
Modern diets tend to be balanced between meat, vegetables and fruit. However, I am sure you will be reassured to know you could get by on the equivalent of seven 16-ounce steaks a day, given a few gaseous weeks of adjusting.
