Modern Day Wild Food Foraging
Posted by lindseyshoe
From gourmet cooks to raw foodists, from homesteaders to those who just want to live a healthier, more Eco-friendly life style, wild edible foods are making it to the menu. There are a variety of reasons for the interest in modern day food foraging.
Food foraging, or gathering wild foods, is an idea that is coming back in style. Finding wild edible plants that sustained many during the hunter/gatherer days is a practice that is getting more attention from people from all walks of life. From gourmet cooks to raw foodists, from homesteaders to those who just want to live a healthier, more Eco-friendly life style, wild edible foods are making it to the menu. There are a variety of reasons for the interest in modern day food foraging.
Why would people want to participate in modern day food foraging?
Wild food is free
It can be time consuming and labor intensive, or not, but wild food you forage for yourself is generally free. Free is especially attractive in this challenging economy, but for most people, there’s more than saving money that drives them out to forage for wild food.
Wild food is green
Food foraging is the ultimate “going green” venue. Foraging wild food makes use of nature’s bounty without chemicals, packaging, or transporting.
Wild foods are tasty and interesting
Ramps, also known as wild leeks, have been featured in Bon Appétit®. Purslane, a vigorous, succulent “weed”, went from being a gardener’s nightmare to being featured on fine dining restaurant menus across the country.
According to Kerri Conan, blogger for The New York Times, “Ultimately, people want what tastes best…food that’s fresh, picked at peak flavor and grown without toxins. And wild foods are unusual and interesting. That’s what turns the foodies on nowadays, and that’s why wild foods are becoming popular again”.
Wild foods have health benefits
Many wild foods also have super doses of nutrition. In addition, the practice of food foraging offers exercise and a healthy connection to nature and the seasons.
Food Foraging Dangers
It’s important to become very knowledgeable when foraging for wild foods. Nicholas Evans, author of the Horse Whisperer and an experienced food forager, ended up needing dialysis after eating poisonous wild mushrooms in Scotland. You’ll need to learn to positively identify the food and the proper ways to prepare wild food for consumption.
Along with identifying wild food, foragers need to be very aware of where they forage foods. Plants along the roadsides or nearby to conventional farms may have been exposed to toxic sprays and should be thoroughly and repeatedly washed. The further you forage from the “beaten path”, the better.
Fortunately, there are many books, websites, and even hands-on courses available on safe food foraging.
Best Wild Foods for Beginning Foragers
Dandelions are a great place to begin a modern food foraging adventure, and they can often be found in your own front yard. What can you do with dandelions?
The young and tender leaves of dandelions are delicious in salads. Dandelion roots can be sautéed in olive oil, along with onions.
From late March until May, ramps, or wild leeks, pop up across North America. Ramps can be used raw or cooked as a substitution for either scallions or leeks. Sautéed or blanched ramps are excellent in, or on, a variety of foods such as scrambled eggs, potatoes, or quiche. They can be sprinkled on pizza, and they make an excellent bed for crab cakes.
In the fall, forage for wild fruits like persimmons and paw paws. Both will need to be fully ripened, or soft to the touch, before they are palatable. Paw paw fruits can be used in any recipe where you would generally use a banana.
Food Foraging Etiquette
When foraging for food, we don’t deplete what should be an ongoing supply of wild food. Kelly Kindscher, author of Edible Wild Plants of the Prairie: An Ethnobotanical Guide (1987) and Medicinal Wild Plants of the Prairie: An Ethnobotanical Guide (1992), says to always leave healthy plants when harvesting wild foods. Kindscher’s rule is “take half, leave half.”
Modern day food foraging gives new meaning to “wild and free”. With some careful study and preparation, you can bolster both nutrition and adventure from wild edible foods.
References:
Kindscher, K., 1992. Medicinal Wild Plants of the Prairie: An Ethnobotanical Guide. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence. Contains 203 native species, illustrated with line drawings and maps.
Kindscher, K. 1987. Edible Wild Plants of the Prairie: An Ethnobotanical Guide. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence. Contains 123 native species, illustrated with line drawings and maps.
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