Let me defend the virtures of beef jerky's bigger brother summer sausage.
Long ago on my wanderings I found that I was hungry.
With no time to busy myself with fire starting I wandered still hungry. That hard tac was all gone. So it was grass and twigs.
Munching away on these "vegatables' I happened along a most pleasent merchant. Looking succesfully fed, I quandried if he could spare some victuals for a wandering pirate. He immediatly passed over a summer sausage. I tried this interesting morsal and to my "amazement" it satisfied my hunger so I thanked this man and continued my wanderings. knowing that I would not be hungry again as long As I had a summer sausage, I saught the neccasary ingredients to my now famous elixir.
So if not for the summer sausage the quest of the elixir would have faded in a far away tavern that I had to find food in.