“What is this thing?”
“Wait, when did these herbs get put in the bark frame? I don’t remember.”
“Space-time must’ve shifted.”
The audience watched cluelessly as Bi Fang pulled out a bunch of weeds, tied them around the fish, and then proceeded to crush them to extract their juice to pour over it.
As the rain drizzled down, Bi Fang washed his hands with the water running off the tent top, sat beside the bed waiting for the fish to cook and explained, “This is called lemongrass, a common wild herb in the Banna Rainforest that mainly grows in the subtropics. It has a strong lemon scent to it, which is why it’s also called lemon herb.”
“I picked it while digging for bamboo shoots in the bamboo forest. I just grabbed a handful and threw it into the bark frame. You guys probably didn’t notice.”
“Oh, I have an impression of that. Old Fang seemed to be hurrying along and casually picked some when he saw it on the way. I thought it was just weeds he used for cushioning.”
“Huh, now that you mention it, it does ring a bell.”
“What’s the use of this thing? It looks just like weeds.”
“Lemongrass? That name sounds familiar. I think I tried it during a trip to Banna, but I’ve forgotten the taste.”“Lemongrass has many uses. At first glance, it appears to grow wildly towards the sky like a big clump of weeds, which can easily be missed by those unfamiliar with it, but it’s also a good find.”
“Dai people love to use lemongrass as a seasoning. They wrap marinated carp and tilapia with it before slowly roasting them over a charcoal fire until the fish is thoroughly cooked. The taste is remarkably fresh and fragrant.”
Bi Fang flipped the fish over. Subjected to the intense fire, the fish sizzled as it oozed oil and the skin curled and crisped to a golden brown.
The rich aroma of the meat mixed with the subtle lemon fragrance made mouths water with anticipation.
“Damn, I want some roasted fish.”
“Cursing and leaving the live broadcast room.”
“It’s just dinner time. Good thing I’ve already eaten, heh heh.”
But the fish was only surface-cooked; its interior was still raw. Bi Fang stuck the fish in the ground nearby and pulled apart a bamboo strip to render fish oil from it.
Four fish yielded a total of four chunks of fatty belly, already enough to extract quite a bit of oil.
“In the wilderness, fat is actually more important than protein. If you have two equal pieces of pork, one lean and the other fatty, you definitely want to go for the fatty one.”
Bi Fang stuck two sticks in the ground near the fire, tore them apart at both ends, propped up a curved bamboo strip on them, and then placed the fish bellies on top.
“Sugars, fats, proteins are all sources of energy. In the short term, it’s just a matter of how quickly they convert, but that’s not so critical for wilderness survival.”
“For example, if you’re hungry and you get a bowl of rice that replenishes sugars, or a steak that replenishes proteins, you could have a full meal either way. It’s only in extreme sports like rock climbing or marathons that you’d need the quick energy replenishment from sugars.”
The fish belly, the fattest part of the fish, started oozing oil as soon as the high heat began to penetrate through the bamboo strip.
“1 gram of carbohydrates and 1 gram of protein both provide 4 kcal of energy, but 1 gram of fat can provide 9 kcal of energy, which is more than twice the former!” RâΝÒＢÊŠ
“The energy density of fat is huge. When consumed in the same weight, it’s easier to overshoot the daily energy requirement.”
While talking, Bi Fang also recalled a survival show he had seen before.
It was in the Arctic, where one of the contestants, with just a small knife, hunted down a whole large deer.
At the time, it seemed like a sure win. That was hundreds of pounds of meat, enough to last two months.
But the next day, all the fatty parts of the deer were stolen by a wolverine, leaving behind only a large amount of lean meat, i.e., protein.
The environment was in the Arctic, where fat is the lifeblood of survival.
Low temperatures consume a great deal of heat, and without sugars and carbohydrates, one must consume high-calorie foods to resist the cold. Without fat, that contestant had lost a shocking 27 pounds on the 46th day of the physical examination.
Fortunately, they found other sources of fat later on, which prevented them from losing the competition.
However, Bi Fang was in a different situation, as he was in the rainforest with a higher environmental temperature and his energy expenditure wasn’t too high. Protein alone could maintain his balance, so it was more meaningful to use fats for other things.
Like soap.
“Food is never the first priority in survival; obtaining water and staying warm are, and in situations where water is scarce, one should try to eat less because eating increases thirst.”
“If the daily water supply is less than 1 quart, which is 1.1 liters, try to avoid dry, starchy, strongly flavored foods and meats. If available, one can opt for foods with high sugar content.”
[Then why do I feel like protein is mentioned more frequently?]
[Yeah, everyone next door is eating bugs.]
[Last time, someone ate something like a white booger that burst, and they grimaced, saying the protein was six times that of beef, and it was a rare delicacy.]
The term protein frequently appears before wilderness enthusiasts for two main reasons, Bi Fang believed.
“One, without sufficient botanical knowledge, protein is an easier and relatively safer energy source to obtain in the wild.”
“Second, sugars are generally obtained from plants, and their difficulty and safety in acquisition are poorer compared to proteins.”
Catching small animals and insects is much safer than consuming unknown berries and mushrooms.
Animals are hard to catch, but insects are everywhere.
“And protein, compared to fat, doesn’t have a high-cost performance, but at least it can provide energy. The protein content of the average bug is also five times that of beef.”
Bi Fang flipped the fish bellies on the bamboo board; by now, the pieces of fish had shrunk significantly, surrounded by a large amount of rendered fat.
“There are many kinds of insects, they reproduce in large numbers in many parts of the world and are an important food source. Most insects can be easily caught by hand, including large grubs, which are the larvae of insects, locusts, grasshoppers, ants, and termites.”
“You can find wood grubs in rotting logs, underground, or beneath dead bark. Locusts, grasshoppers, ants live in temperate and tropical regions. Termites usually live in jungles.”
“In Special Forces wilderness survival training, once lost or without supplies, the priority is to find plentiful and easier-to-catch creatures, such as insects, crustaceans, mollusks, fish, and reptiles.”
Bi Fang swept away the dead leaves beside him, revealing a teeming mass of ants underneath. He smeared some fish scraps on a stick near the roasting fish, attracting a lot of ants to climb up.
“Normal black ants are rich in formic acid and taste very sour, but it’s a good thing. It’s a natural antibiotic with strong antibacterial and disinfectant functions, even exceeding Western medicine in many areas, without resistance or side effects.”
“The taste isn’t great, first sour then salty, but you can try frying, boiling, or grilling them. Or you might prefer to stew them with other foods, which can improve the taste a bit.”
“You can even eat them raw.” Bi Fang downed the ants on the stick in one gulp, the sour taste exploding in his mouth, causing him to grimace, followed by a mild salty aftertaste.
“Except for large insects. Large insects may carry harmful parasites. Their legs also have barbs that could get stuck in your throat.”
[I was wondering who taught those live streamers to eat bugs, turns out the pioneer is right here.]
[They’ve only learned the appearance, not the essence.]
“But if you do eat insects, when possible, make sure to process them, which means boiling them to kill any parasites and bacteria they may carry.”
Bi Fang used the fish scraps to attract more ants, sprinkling them on the roasted fish like seasoning.
By now, the fat within the fish bellies had been fully extracted, and the small pieces of flesh floated atop the plentiful oil, sizzling and shrinking into tiny clumps.
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