In desperate situations, people will do things that they would not normally do. I’m convinced that this is how some cultures have included insects in their cuisine choices (which is something that I find wholly unappealing).
This issue is something that you may want to take time to think about, though. Why? Because in a survival situation, you may find yourself desperately short on food and need to find a food source quickly purely for survival sake. Situations like this are one reason that you will find it incredibly useful to find some unexpected food sources, such as tree bark.
Yes, tree bark.
Now, to be clear, tree bark may never be a primary food source for you, so you may want to count it as a temporary snack. Or you may want to use it for medicinal purposes.
For example, for respiratory and nasal infections, willow trees have useful properties. Gaye Levy writes,
Willow encompasses a wide family of trees and shrubs, all with bark containing a chemical that works similarly on the body as aspirin.
This makes willow bark a fantastic natural remedy for many of the same afflictions: headaches, muscle ache, gout, inflammation, symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, and menstrual symptoms, to name a few. It is also known to help with symptoms, prevention, and recovery for flu, fevers, and colds.
An additional note from Levy about using willow for medicinal purposes: “When making a tea, don’t let it boil, and don’t steep for longer than 20 minutes or you risk cooking out the medicine.”
Another tree whose medicinal properties are worth knowing about is cottonwood. Now, if you are allergic to aspirin, avoid cottonwood, but, if your body handles aspirin well, cottonwood makes an excellent wound treatment. Again, from Levy:
Related to the willow, cottonwood is rich with a medicinal resin that is excellent for muscle pain, and is a powerful antimicrobial. It also contains many antioxidants, and is an effective expectorant.
As with anything used for medicinal purposes, use caution when first trying the item. You don’t want to suffer the unpleasantness of an adverse reaction and end up with worse symptoms than the ones that you are trying to treat. But, if your body reacts well with the oils from these woods, these are two types of trees which would be very useful for you to have ready access to in a survival situation.