Food

**ALERT: CONSTRUCTION! This article is a work in progress. Not all information present on this topic is here.**
***Spoiler warning:** Plot and/or ending details follow.*
Squirrels, in both real life and the fictional canon, eat many different kinds of food. They mostly eat plants or plants' seeds, rather than meat. However, they can eat small insects if they can't find fruits or nuts. They also get water from many different sources, including creeks, rivers, and ponds.

## General Information

### Purpose

To explain about all the types of food that squirrels eat.

### Excludes

Things that squirrels eat that are not food (note: um?? like what?)

## Key

    = Fruit

    = Nuts

    = Insects

    = Vegetables

    = Grains

    = Seeds

    = Other

## Food

### Acorns

* In *Into the Dark*, several groups of squirrels go acorn-hunting, including Sky, Chestnut, and Aspen on the south side of the river as well as Finch and Robin on the north side.

* Raven's nest is mentioned to be covered with exotic things including interesting acorns.
* Finch remembers that she and Acorn would always be eating acorns when they lived with Violet.
* An acorn is used as anti-Maple propaganda.

### Almonds

* In *Into the Dark*, when Finch and Robin are eating lunch with Mushroom, Finch chooses an almond from Mushroom's extensive food stores.
* Finch remembers that Violet never let her have almonds, even though the latter ate them all the time.

### Berries

* Raven mentions that he has berries in his tree that may not be edible.
* Snow gives Sky berries after she is injured falling off the Great Oak, saying that the sugar should help her.
* Finch notes that the central tree in the Village North of the River has berries in it.

#### Strawberries

* When walking along the creek on the North Side of the River, Finch eats a lot of wild strawberries.

### Cheese

* Robin notes that it comes from the seed place.
* Mushroom has a cheese collection that he is very proud of. Violet notes that it smells foul.

### Eggs

#### Sparrows'

* Robin mentions that one time, a squirrel brought back a sparrow egg from the seed place. Whether squirrels ate it or not is unclear.

### Grapes

* Robin mentions that Mushroom is one of the best food collectors on the north side of the river and that he has tasted grapes before. Mushroom states that the humans once put out cut grapes in the seed place.

### Hazelnuts

* Finch notes that the central tree in the Village North of the River has hazelnuts in it.

### Honey

* Raven mentions that he has a little bit of honey that he "sto-- borrowed from the medic." (He was probably going to say "stole" before he cut himself off.) This implies that honey has a medicinal purpose as well.

### Lettuce

* Robin mentions that the seed place contains lettuce.

### Millet

* Emerald uses it in her soup. Violet says it is soggy.

### Peanuts

* In *Into the Dark*, when Finch is running out of the tunnel under the central tree, a peanut drops onto her head.
* Contrary to popular belief, squirrels actually have difficulties digesting peanuts, and so they are not as common a food as other nuts, like acorns. Squirrels do know about them well, as evidenced by Peanut being the name of the medic, but they do not eat them unless out of necessity.

### Seaweed

Red algae: phylum Rhodophyta

* Raven mentions that he has bits of seaweed, and comments that they smell good.

### Suet

* Mushroom, who collects all kinds of exotic foods, enjoys this food a lot. He mentions that it is hard to get from the seed place because of the blue jays and woodpeckers trying to get it too, but that "it is so worth it." He tries to get both Finch and Violet to try it, but they both refuse.

### Sunflower Hearts

* Emerald uses sunflower hearts in her soup. Violet says that nobody likes them.

### Sunflower Seeds

* Raven says that sunflower seeds are the "helianthus dispersing reproductive structures," which is pretty much a fancy way of saying sunflower seeds.
* Robin mentions that the seed place has sunflower seeds.

### Walnuts

* Finch notes that there are walnuts stored in the central tree of the Village North of the River.
* Finch again remembers Violet never offering her walnuts.

### Water

* Snow is collecting water in a makeshift acorn-bowl from a puddle, to bring to the injured and sick squirrels, before she is attacked and kidnapped by Emerald.
* Water obviously is of great importance in the story in other ways—- squirrels often dip their paws in water to clean them. The river dividing the two communities can be ridden on log-rafts, as seen when Finch and Robin do so.

## Dishes

### Soup

* Emerald enjoys to cook it, and made it for the squirrels that helped the injured after the fire. Violet says that no one likes it.

*End of spoiler warning*
## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 [1]
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Revealed in *Into the Dark*, page 97
3. ↑ Revealed in *Into the Dark*, page 36
4. ↑ [2]
5. ↑ Revealed in *Into the Dark*, page 161
6. ↑ Revealed in *Into the Dark*, page 90
7. ↑ Revealed in *Into the Dark*, page 5
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Revealed in *Into the Dark*, page 102
9. ↑ Revealed in *Into the Dark*, page 43
10. ↑ [3]
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Revealed in *Into the Dark*, page 100
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Revealed in *Into the Dark*, page 7
13. ↑ Revealed in *Into the Dark*, page 15
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Revealed in *Into the Dark*, page 95
15. ↑ [4]
16. ↑ Revealed in *Into the Dark*, page 113
17. ↑ [5]
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Revealed in *Into the Dark*, page 96
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Revealed in *Into the Dark*, page 127
20. ↑ [6]
21. ↑ [7]
22. ↑ [8]
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 Revealed in *Into the Dark*, page 101
24. ↑ [9]
25. ↑ [10]
26. ↑ [11]
27. ↑ [12]
28. ↑ [13]
29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 29.4 29.5 Revealed in *Into the Dark*, page 35
30. ↑ [14]
31. ↑ Revealed in *Into the Dark*, page 137
32. ↑ [15]
33. ↑ [16]
34. ↑ [17]
35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 Revealed in *Into the Dark*, page 129
36. ↑ [18]
37. ↑ [19]
38. ↑ [20]
39. ↑ [21]
40. ↑ [22]
41. ↑ [23]
42. ↑ Revealed in *Into the Dark*, page 67
43. ↑ [24]
44. ↑ [25]