Gathering edible plants and animals from the great outdoors is nothing new. It was once the way of life for all creatures on earth, including humans. This method of getting breakfast, lunch, and dinner may seem strange to residents of North America today who shop at supermarkets and eat at restaurants. However, interest in foraging wild food in CA and other states is growing.
Of course, many people are perfectly happy to get their food from supermarkets and restaurants. If they really want fresh, they patronize farmer's markets in their area. However, it's trendy now to cook with foraged ingredients, like purslane or ramps (wild leeks). Others may have grown up eating dandelion salad, wild asparagus, and fish fresh from the pond. They know how fresh really tastes.
The popularity of survival television shows and websites has brought indigenous foods back into the limelight. Every area of the world has its native animals that are good eating and plants that are nutritious, tasty, and often therapeutic. Even inner city residents are learning to identify edible weeds growing in vacant lots or in cracks in the pavement.
People learn in school that Native Americans made flour out of acorns and taught Europeans how to find and eat oysters. They made pemmican out of roots, berries, and animal fat to carry for food on long journeys. Most adults know that toadstools may look like mushrooms but are poisonous, and that dandelion greens are edible.
This knowledge may be important someday in a time of famine. In that case, it will be helpful to know a mushroom from a toadstool. Mushrooms are valuable foods, with a taste that mimics meat and a high protein content. Making a salad of plantain, dandelion greens, watercress from a stream, and a few edible mushrooms can be lunch for a hungry person. In warm places like California, with long growing seasons, foraging is easier.
There are lots of old favorites, like field cress, watercress, and cattails. Dandelion greens, lamb's quarters, plantain, and wild onions are other familiar foods. Berries, nuts, and honey from the hive are natural delicacies. Ginseng, goldenseal, native mints, rose hips, and elderberries have medicinal properties, another thing that might be good to know.
However, even those who never think of the word 'foraging' may garnish their ice tea with a sprig of wild mint or crystallize violets for cake decorations. Some may harvest day lily buds, saute them in butter, and enjoy them as much as cultivated asparagus. Others may know that plantain from the yard is sure to please their guinea pigs.
Foraging, like any other use of natural resources, requires responsible harvesting. Naturalists already fear that the gourmet craze for ramps might endanger that plant. There are ways to take a little and leave enough behind to sustain the population of valuable plants and animals. This is a very important part of being an educated forager in California and other parts of the country.
Of course, many people are perfectly happy to get their food from supermarkets and restaurants. If they really want fresh, they patronize farmer's markets in their area. However, it's trendy now to cook with foraged ingredients, like purslane or ramps (wild leeks). Others may have grown up eating dandelion salad, wild asparagus, and fish fresh from the pond. They know how fresh really tastes.
The popularity of survival television shows and websites has brought indigenous foods back into the limelight. Every area of the world has its native animals that are good eating and plants that are nutritious, tasty, and often therapeutic. Even inner city residents are learning to identify edible weeds growing in vacant lots or in cracks in the pavement.
People learn in school that Native Americans made flour out of acorns and taught Europeans how to find and eat oysters. They made pemmican out of roots, berries, and animal fat to carry for food on long journeys. Most adults know that toadstools may look like mushrooms but are poisonous, and that dandelion greens are edible.
This knowledge may be important someday in a time of famine. In that case, it will be helpful to know a mushroom from a toadstool. Mushrooms are valuable foods, with a taste that mimics meat and a high protein content. Making a salad of plantain, dandelion greens, watercress from a stream, and a few edible mushrooms can be lunch for a hungry person. In warm places like California, with long growing seasons, foraging is easier.
There are lots of old favorites, like field cress, watercress, and cattails. Dandelion greens, lamb's quarters, plantain, and wild onions are other familiar foods. Berries, nuts, and honey from the hive are natural delicacies. Ginseng, goldenseal, native mints, rose hips, and elderberries have medicinal properties, another thing that might be good to know.
However, even those who never think of the word 'foraging' may garnish their ice tea with a sprig of wild mint or crystallize violets for cake decorations. Some may harvest day lily buds, saute them in butter, and enjoy them as much as cultivated asparagus. Others may know that plantain from the yard is sure to please their guinea pigs.
Foraging, like any other use of natural resources, requires responsible harvesting. Naturalists already fear that the gourmet craze for ramps might endanger that plant. There are ways to take a little and leave enough behind to sustain the population of valuable plants and animals. This is a very important part of being an educated forager in California and other parts of the country.
About the Author:
If you would like to learn more about foraging wild food in CA click this link to The Living Wild Project. For information on ingredients and recipes, visit us today at http://livingwild.org.
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