In the episode the narrator cited the book while exploring shamrock folklore, noting that it claimed people ate shamrocks as a last‑resort food during Irish famines. The discussion presented the claim without endorsement, making it a casual reference.
Episode: The Sleepy History of Shamrocks
Edmund Spencer perpetuated the idea that shamrocks were a food of last resort during times of famine in Ireland, describing people eating them like a feast when other options were gone.
He said that shamrocks were a food eaten as a last resort during times of famine in Ireland.
Anatomies of death, they spake like ghosts, crying out of their graves. They did eat of the carrions, and if they found a plot of watercress or shamrocks, there they flocked as to a feast for the time. Yet not able long to continue therewithal.