I never believed the rumors that Gibbons died from something he found in the forest or that he choked to death on a pinecone sandwich. The book has been in print continuously since 1962 and sold more than a half-million copies.
His first book “Stalking the Wild Asparagus” influenced a generation of Americans longing to return to their natural roots (literally and figuratively). How thorough was he? He sent the things he foraged to Pennsylvania State University for analysis. An accomplished author, he was recognized as an authority on wild food cuisine and nutrition. Since then, I’ve done some internet foraging and learned that he really was a fascinating guy. In doing research for a previous column, I Googled Euell Gibbons and came to know him better. But I attributed that to false hunger associated with herbal misadventures common in that era.) Perhaps, in my heart of hearts, I really wanted to be him. Although I always admired Gibbons’ adventurous spirit and resourcefulness. I suspect a lot of people saw him that way. Until last week, I dismissed him as an eccentric old coot who might have gotten ahold of the wrong kind of mushrooms while rooting around in the forest for dinner. You know, the other day, I ate some goose poop I found on my lawn.” Sitting down to dig into a bowl of Grape-Nuts, he says, “Of course, I don’t always eat it in a bowl like this. Gibbons once made a parody of his own commercials. Sometimes Gibbons got in on the act himself when he appeared on TV talk programs such as the Johnny Carson Show. From the Carol Burnett Show to the PBS children’s program “The Electric Company,” on-air personalities poked fun at him. His eccentric ways and folksy persona made him the butt of jokes. In the commercial for which he’s probably best remembered, Gibbons asks, “Ever eat a pine tree?” They typically depicted the robust, outdoorsy Gibbons foraging in the countryside then sitting down to enjoy a bowl of Grape-Nuts.
Like a lot of folks my age, I knew him only through his iconic Post Grape-Nuts commercials, which aired in the 1970s. Last week, while writing a column about foraging, I met Euell Gibbons. When I set out to write my outdoors column - generally in the quiet of a Sunday morning - I don’t know where it’s going much less where it might end up. This originally was published as an outdoors column in the Ashland Times-Gazette, Loudonville Times Shopper and elsewhere online.įor me, writing is an adventure.
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