Just read your article on poke weed and it left me, uh, incredulous. During the interviews with folks which resulted in the highly acclaimed FOXFIRE series in the 1970's, many of the VERY old folks, when asked what contributed to their longevity, said "Poke weed".

I'm 47 years old and eat boiled poke greens and fried poke stalks every spring until warmer weather makes them too bitter. My grandmother, who lived into her late 80's, always claimed that if a person could eat poke once a week they would live forever. Unfortunately for her, she had been relegated to a "retirement" home which did not allow her to have her beloved poke.

My father, pushing 90, eats poke on a regular basis.

I've served the dish to folks from all over the U.S. and from several foreign countries and all have enjoyed it immensely and NO ONE has ever gotten "sick" from eating it any more than one might get sick from eating spinach or okra.

I recall that, in the past, conventional knowledge warned for many years that tomatoes were poisonous, so were cucumbers, for that matter.

We skin the poke stalks, cut them into bits, roll them in flour, salt and pepper and fry them. It tastes remarkably like okra.

We parboil the greens, add fresh water and salt pork or ham, serve with salt and pepper and a dash of vinegar.

Young shoots, stalks and leaves together, are steamed and served with butter like asparagus, which the taste is reminiscent of.

We do avoid the berries and the root, but be advised that competent herbalists use both in tinctures and poultices.