It has taken generations of trial and error to determine which plants can be safely consumed. Liu, noting that the Han Chinese have a legend that it was the deity Shen Nong who "tried the 100 herbs," says that the aborigines have instead relied on countless generations of ancestors, and not any particular individual.
到底哪些野菜沒有毒，哪些能夠吞得下肚，都經過世世代代的嘗試，劉炯錫說，就像中國人說的神農嘗百草，「神農氏」指的就是千千萬萬的老祖先而不是某一個特定的人物。