So I was up to the archives again today...
Here's two interesting snippets about eating weeds. The first comes from Manti, in a folklore context. The original informant wasn't named, and it looks a little suspect to me. Still, its the thought that counts:
"The place where the weeds were gathered was down on the south side of the stone quarry where the Mormons first camped. After each day a-gathering, there was none left for the next day. But like the food miraculously supplied to the Israelites in the wilderness, each day, just so the Lord provided for this supply of pig weed each day."
If I think back to the Israelites, the Lord provided manna, which was described as being sweet, and could be ground to make flour for bread. Also, they received quail, which could be prepared in any number of tasty ways. I hate to doubt this person's earnest faith, but couldn't God provide something better than pig weed? Amelia Young remembered gathering quail (divinely provident) in the first days after being expelled from Nauvoo.
But then, here comes this next quote right in the face of it all. John Hyrum Barton (1868-1944) quipped, "We considered pigweed greens a dessert." Being on the later end of settlement, perhaps he never experienced the extreme hunger as did the early settlers. Still, pigweed is no dessert. I dare you to try some this summer.
Bride’s Cake
5 days ago
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Perhaps the pioneers, being familiar with the infamous manna/quail incident, decided not to whine about the pigweed.
"We remember the blood puddings, which we did eat in ____ freely, and the sauerkraut, and the donuts, and the pies made of jibbly organ bits, and the onions, and the garlick. Now there's nothing but this nasty pigweed stuff. Yech. There is nothing at all, beside this pigweed, before our eyes." And the pigweed was as a nasty splodgy pile of ick, and the color thereof as the color of nasal discharge.
"Fine then, you can have sauerkraut until it comes out your nose, how about that. Ingrates."
Unpleasant.
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