Yes, quite possibly, but the point here is that the missionaries couldn't just say "Look, this is edible" (munch) and be believed/understood. Which they could do if they'd been facing normal human beings. They had to use magic to get the point across. And from what Greg says, this is because the people they were teaching had been brain-damaged, somehow. And the missionaries hadn't, somehow.
>They must have been tough, or good at hiding, and resilient,
> but they did not have the luxury of innovation, or nice food,
> or any sorts of real pleasures.
And certainly not the luxury of *not* trying to eat anything they could lay their hands on. There just wasn't enough there. Even a standard medieval winter produced those conditions. Choice of possible poisoning or certain starvation, you take the risk. If, that is, you have a functioning brain to apply to the problem. "Necessity is the mother of invention" is a proverb for good reason - because it's true.
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