Nonfood items like wood and fibers slowed, but the edible nuts, beans and spices segment, for example, grew 34%.

FORBES: Magazine Article

These raised the sea level, producing Japan's meandering modern coastline with its prolific crops of shellfish and edible seaweed, and also permitted the spread of deciduous forests, which provide a cornucopia of nuts, berries and shoots that do not run away.

ECONOMIST: A potted history