"Many parts are edible"
When I was younger, I learned that a certain plant that commonly-grew in the cracks of city sidewalks, a pigweed, was edible. I appalled all my friends by casually bending over, and eating. Grazing on one's surroundings is the last thing people expect, somehow. (The pigweed was too green and gummy for my taste, but that wasn't the point.) The nice thing is that as the years go by people seem to be more appalled than ever. It's a real conversation starter (and ender!) It's not so much an old skill as a timeless skill.
(Perv With A Dog had his eyes pecked out by scrub jays on, Sat 2 Jul 2011, 0:54, Reply)