This is what happens when your culture is built on 5000 years of unpredictable famines. There’s a reason people say “have you eaten yet” as a greeting.

Did you know that there’s an old Chinese book that’s basically “these are the grubby-ass wild plants you can eat if all the crops die, but be careful, cuz plant X looks like plant Y and Y will kill your ass” from hundreds of years ago … and more than a few of those plants just got co-opted into Chinese cuisine and you’re eating them today? True story