Food

food nourishing

Food is any nourishing substance that organisms consume to provide energy, promote growth and maintain life. Food is considered a basic physiological human need as without it humans are unable to absorb the nutrients necessary to sustain life and will die. If properly hydrated humans can only survive for about a month without food. After this point death will occur as a result of organ failure caused by the total absence of calorie, vitamin and nutrient intake.

The Collaspe of the Food Industry

Pre-pandemic, the food industry encompassed the complex network of different bussinesses that acted to supply the world with its food energy.

The collapse of the food industry came hand-in-hand with the 2015 feral pandemic. The virus broke the complex chain that enabled different foods to travel across the world.

With the outbreak of the feral virus came the collapse of the food industry.  The complex chain that enabled different foods to travel across the world was broken. In face of the Lycophagic Fever and the mass death and wide spread panic it caused, growers ceased growing produce, food processing stopped converting raw food into products, foods were no longer being transported across the world to distribution centers. Food was no longer being delivered to local supermarkets and gorcers, stores which the average person was dependent on for obtaining their food.

While most individuals had previously taken having easy access to many different types of foods for granted, in the wake of the outbreak, not only were they left to fight for their survival against the threat of ferals, but they were also faced with the problem of how to feed themselves, and were subjected to ineadequate nutrition and starvation if they were unable to do so. 

Timeline of the Use of Food Collection Methods

Short-term

Foraging

Foraging is the act of searching for and collecting edible items in the discarded materials of others. Foraging was one of the most common methods of obtaining food in the wake of the outbreak.

In urban areas, surviving individuals raided grocery stores, supermarkets, restaurants and residential buildings in hopes of finding food items that the previous owners or residents had had left behind in midst of the panic.

For a time this was an incredibly fruitful method for individuals to find what they needed to ward off malnutrition and starvation. However, as time drew on, sources were depleted of their resources and it became increasingly difficult for individuals to find what they needed. In rural areas, individuals searched for edible plants and herbs for sustenance.

Midterm

Foraging

In the midterm period, while individuals still foraged for abandoned food items, most took to trying to forage food items from natural sources. People were able to forage many food items in this fashion, such as fruit, berries, edible herbs, mushrooms and vegetables.

While those in rural areas had a slightly easier time with this, as they were simply closer and surrounded by more of these types of wild sources, people in urban areas searched parks, gardens and forests and were successful in finding food as well.

Hunting

Hunting is the act of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, by humans for food. After scavengers depleted the remaining food sources, individuals starting hunting small game as a way to get protein into their diet. 

Hunting was supplemented by the fruits,vegetables, herbs and other types of food that they managed to forage from their environment. (See Agriculture for more information on hunting). 

Long-term

Agriculture

Agriculture is the business of farming. It involves the cultivating of soil, the production of crops, and the raising of livestock. Many years after the sudden decline, when individuals had banded together into relatively large populations, the agriculture industry was reestablished as the primary source for sustenance used to provide populations with the food.

References

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