Foraging: Finding Wild Foods
http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2011-03-30/foraging-finding-wild-foods
Humans long ago stopped relying on foraging in favor of agriculture. But not everybody has given it up entirely. With Spring right around the corner, we look at the wild bounty available in our backyards and parks, and find out how to recognize edible mushrooms and wild greens.
Guests
Steve Brill
"Wildman" Steve Brill is a foraging expert and tour guide.
Raymond LaSala
President of the Mycological Association of Washington
Comments
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I am happy to hear that the topic of Foraging being talked about on this show , it is a wonderful hobby as well as a great and healthy way to earn meal and truly enjoy what you are consuming and cooking . As a chef insturctor in Falls Church, VA at Open Kitchen, I love to help people know how to cook all that our area gives us
I like the idea of foraging. Thanks for the program.
I think it is appropriate in the appropriate places. While the guests seem to think that it would be impossible to deplete or eradicate the edibles, I don't think it is a thing to be promoted in urban areas.
Our urban areas are stressed to their limits. The "natural"
life within those regions are struggling to survive. Removing food that would go to them seems to be insensitive on our parts. I do like to encourage people to get out into nature so they will want to defend it. But encouraging people to go tramping through Central Park if carried to extremes could lead to adverse effects of erosion or trampling of the flora. (This is the same reasoning that is behind Arlington County's leash law when in parks. There
are too many dogs going through the parks which leads to the demise of the native animals' nesting places and lives.)
thanks,
Hank
I wanted to echo what one of the other speakers said about the need to exercise restraint during such foraging activities. In my experience as wildlife refuge manager and subsequently environmental engineer for Superfund investigations nation-wide, advertising and encouraging wholesale foraging activities amongst even the most well intentioned citizens is not a good idea. Unfortunately our educational system does not provide the level of environmental sensitivity that would provide such individuals with the knowledge and skills necessary to prevent them from negatively impact the environs where most of these wild things grow.
I can see encouraging specific groups who have gone through such training that would necessarily include field trips, show and tell type sessions, but not to use the broadcast media, especially in a high population density urban area as a basis for instigating this most ancient and delicate of activities. Humans are the original intrusive species, and wholesale consumers of resources without the least regard to how limited those resources are. All one has to do is watch the Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns series on the formation of the National Park system to see just how insensitive and untrustworthy most humans are when it comes to the environment. Sad but true.
That said, I really liked Steve's story about being apprehended in Central Park, and am glad you subsequently conscripted into the City's nature study training program. This is exactly the kind of program we need before we turn the Visigoths loose in our wild/natural areas.
Hi Hank,
I have to disagree with you. I've had large groups of people collecting renewables such as field garlic, sassafras, garlic mustard, Japanese knotweed, dandelions, chickweed, mulberries, black walnuts, chicken mushrooms, puffballs, honey mushrooms, burdock root, and dozens of other species (plus school classes and day camps on weekdays) in the same spots every Sat., Sun., and holiday for over 29 years. We haven't impacted a single weed. They still have to send in mowers to cut them down.
You may not really appreciate the difference between renewable and non-renewable resources, but if you're ever in the NY area, please attend one of my tours to see how people can relate to our ecosystems through foraging with no environmental impact whatsoever. You can see my schedule on wildmanstevebrill.com. Thanks!
Happy Foraging!
"Wildman"
Many of our most abundant wild edibles are either fruiting bodies, whose harvest doesn't harm the plant/organism (black walnuts, mulberries, mushrooms), or actually non-native invasive plants whose removal BENEFITS our native plants (wineberries, garlic mustard). Not to mention the abundance of edible weeds that are growing in most people's yards and other disturbed places. My husband and I lead wild edibles walks here in the DC area (http://www.mattshabitats.com/naturewalks) and one of our favorite spots to take people is the edge of a local soccer field!
That's not to say there aren't wild edibles that we need to be careful about -- ramps were the example on the program that I am most worried about people over harvesting, as Ray noted. They're so delicious and I've seen people walking out of the woods with bags of them. Although individual patches may seem abundant, I worry that could lead people to think they can take more than is really sustainable in this urban area.
But most important is a point Steve made at the end of the program -- getting interested in wild edibles is an entry point for many people, and especially kids, into wanting to know what individual plants are. Learning to forage offers a much deeper level of understanding of nature and the seasons than merely walking through a bunch of green stuff in the woods. If we really want to protect our local environment, having more people engaged at this level can only be good.