A gentle introduction to urban foraging

Sharing what I've learned so far on this lifelong journey.

I’ve been wondering how best to start this post. This is a topic I hardly feel to be an expert in, yet I’m excited by the fact that there’s so much to learn.

A couple of wild drinks – elderflower syrup and fermented prickly pear.

In this week’s newsletter, I’m outlining how I began to immerse myself in the world of plants, and some tips, tricks and things to consider before taking the plunge yourself.

Why forage?

There are any number of reasons why foraging may spark your interest.

Maybe you’re sick of weekly visits to the supermarket, surrounded by noise, artificial lights and options such as limp salad, encased in plastic.

Perhaps you’re tired of a life lived online and you wish to get away from your phone and connect to the outside world.

You could be concerned about the future and wanting to extend your skill set, so you have the ability to feed yourself and your loved ones, if shit were to truly hit the fan.

You might just really love food, and feel excited by the prospect of enhancing your cooking with the number of wild plants available.

Maybe you’re simply curious about the world around you.

Or, you’re feeling a bit rebellious and resent being told you have to live your life a certain way. You like the idea of saving money, extending your knowledge base and bucking outside the ‘normal’ ways of doing things.

It could even be a mix of all these reasons.

Safety when foraging

This is the number one concern for me. We should be able to feed ourselves freely, but there are a few reasons why you should exercise caution.

Identification

When foraging for wild plants, you must be sure you know what you’re eating.

This is because there are some lookalikes in the plant world. And where one may be perfectly safe, while the other could cause crippling stomach pain or even poison you.

I don’t mean to scare you (and don’t worry, I scare myself plenty). Just spend some time getting to know the plants around you, before you pop them into your gullet. Get friendly with a plant identification book – I’ve nominated a couple further down in this post.

Pollution