American researchers have compiled a list of foods that would be safe to eat if the United States and Russia were to engage in a global nuclear war.

A global disaster, such as an all-out nuclear war, a large asteroid strike, or a supervolcano eruption, would put agricultural productivity at risk by reducing sunlight and temperature, disrupting rainfall patterns, and contaminating water supplies, putting survivors of the initial event at risk of starvation.

An interdisciplinary team at The Pennsylvania State University set out to design and assess food resilience techniques at the household and community levels in order to improve the chances of human survival under these conditions.

Fifteen years of darkness

Although several natural events have already happened on our planet, the probability of something like, such as an all-out nuclear war, a large asteroid strike, or a supervolcano eruption, this happening is low. But that same apocalyptic winter we are more likely to believe it ourselves. Or rather leaders like Putin, Biden and many others who keep the codes of their nuclear arsenals and who do not hesitate to threaten to use them if things do not go their way. 

If Russia and the United States are given to use all their nuclear warheads – it is estimated that between the two powers they add up to about 11,500, more than 90% of the world’s nuclear inventory – in addition to causing an unprecedented catastrophe that would take millions of human and animal lives, they would get the sky covered with more than 165 million tons of dust or, as the researchers point out, about 11 times the weight of the three pyramids of Giza.

These effects were first described by Carl Sagan and other scientists who dubbed it ‘nuclear winter’.

The team calculates that such a cloud would reduce the incidence of sunlight to less than 40% near the equator, and less than 5% near the poles compared to normal levels. Furthermore, they say that permafrost would cover the surface of most of North America, Europe and Asia. And in humid tropical forests, such as the Congo or Amazon basins, rainfall could be reduced by 90% for several years.

With this scenario, the researchers explain, the Earth would take up to 15 years to fully recover. Meanwhile, the survivors would see how during the next five years the crops would be lost throughout the planet. Only the tropics closest to the equator, where temperature changes are less, would allow the cultivation of some species.

“A global sun-blocking catastrophe is more plausible than anyone would like to think. Models have consistently shown the devastating effects these events could have on the world’s agricultural systems for more than 15 years. 

New crops tolerant to lack of sun, drought and cold must be found, as well as more sources of food reserves, if there is any hope of feeding the world population in such a scenario.”

What will the survivors eat?

For their study, Winstead and Jacobson have identified the populations near the tropical regions with the most vegetation, both dry and humid forests, and have compiled a list of 247 wild edible plants. From that list, and with the help of local villagers, they have chosen 33 that could feed us during the post-nuclear war years: leafy vegetables, fruits, seeds and nuts, roots, spices, sweets and proteins are abundant enough and provide high nutritional value, essential vitamins and minerals. For the researchers, it was also important that these foods can be stored for a long time without refrigeration and produced at any time of the year.

One of the most promising foods for scientists is the palm weevil, a fat- and protein-rich larva that can be roasted and ground into bread and soups. 

“The amount of calories in fat and protein that are condensed in those grubs are immense,” said Winstead. “You can feed someone’s entire caloric needs with 30 or 40 Tupperware containers of palm weevils, and all you have to do is just continually harvest them. And you can fit that in the corner of a room.”

Other interesting foods include konjac, an edible starchy root vegetable, cassava root, wild oyster mushroom, safou, an oily fruit known as the ‘African plum’, various types of wild spinach and amaranth vegetables, or pigweeds, a vegetable that is consumed a lot in Africa and has an enormous nutritional contribution.

In addition to food to grow, the researchers also made a list of foods that are safe to harvest right after the nuclear attack. Among them are palm fruit and the tamarind, the seeds of the dilo and acacia, the mopane worms, the baobabs, the yams, a very popular tuber in the Canary Islands, and the ensete, a plant that fed to Ethiopians during famines and that it is “basically a banana tree that you eat the tree instead of the banana,” added Winstead.

Enhance key biodiversity also before the apocalypse

The work of the researchers, in addition to trying to make the world and, above all, its leaders aware of the danger that nuclear war poses to our civilization, also sends out a warning about the loss of biodiversity caused by our eating habits. According to them, most of the world feeds on only 12 crops and there are many varieties of plants in danger of extinction that would help us both today and in the event of a nuclear disaster.

“Biodiversity isn’t just pretty to look at. There are a lot of uses here, and there’s thousands and thousands of edible plants that people eat across the world. It’s just that much more important to protect those areas so we don’t lose that biodiversity,” according to Winstead.

“There’s so much opportunity for us to do the right thing. There’s enough land to go around. If people really cooperated and didn’t hoard things for themselves, I think that there would be plenty. It’s going to have to take a lot of well-meaning people to make a difference.”

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