I'm pretty sure you're right on all counts -- i.e. he opts for toast if it's available, and leaves sauces off meat, when uncertain.
And/or opts for eggs; though I mostly remember them being mentioned as being alternatives for whatever the kabiu meat of the season is; don't recall whether Bren asks for them, just that he mentions them being an alternative.
It does make sense, sort of - after all, a grain is essentially a seed, i.e. a baby plant and all the nutrients it needs to grow. Baby things might not be able to handle some offensive chemicals, or might need alll the seed-space for their food source, more than they need a protective chemical. (Like how, on our world, you can eat the leaves of a young nettle plant, but an older one will be toxic -- the toxicity increases over time as the plant ages, it's not "inborn" except in the sense that the plant has the genes for making or uptaking that compound.)
Actually. Terran vegetatiom sports a number of examples of toxic plants that have edible fruits or roots -- pretty much every part of a potato except the tuber, for instance, contains the neurotoxin solanine; and while rhubarb stalks are edible, the leaves are not.
Re: delectable tea!
And/or opts for eggs; though I mostly remember them being mentioned as being alternatives for whatever the kabiu meat of the season is; don't recall whether Bren asks for them, just that he mentions them being an alternative.
It does make sense, sort of - after all, a grain is essentially a seed, i.e. a baby plant and all the nutrients it needs to grow. Baby things might not be able to handle some offensive chemicals, or might need alll the seed-space for their food source, more than they need a protective chemical. (Like how, on our world, you can eat the leaves of a young nettle plant, but an older one will be toxic -- the toxicity increases over time as the plant ages, it's not "inborn" except in the sense that the plant has the genes for making or uptaking that compound.)
Actually. Terran vegetatiom sports a number of examples of toxic plants that have edible fruits or roots -- pretty much every part of a potato except the tuber, for instance, contains the neurotoxin solanine; and while rhubarb stalks are edible, the leaves are not.